


ASL Tutorial

by Octosan



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Female Frisk, Gen, Handplates, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Minor Character Death, Pacifist Frisk, Past Child Abuse, Undertale AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-06-08 14:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 74,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6859165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Octosan/pseuds/Octosan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The heart of a pacifist is put to the test, and so is the game's coding, when the child returns to the underground with her friends. Her aim was the Core and its creator, but that was only the first step and arguably the easiest one. Now, as she only starts to understand horrifying revelations about the past of two of her best skeleton buddies, the child must try and find a way home for all of them and understand that some people just really suck to be nice to. </p><p>Uses the Handplates AU for Dr. Gaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No Doubt

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

 

The reason why four people came to Mt. Ebott on the fourth year of the new monster calendar, on April 4th was threefold.

The first reason could be called nostalgia. After all, it had been over a year since they had had reason to visit the underground. Before, it had been a matter of coming in to help relocate those that were still in the old towns and capital city. Construction on the capital monster city above ground, which was stuck right next to the human one and titled "New New Home" by the king, was quick by human standards but slow by the standards of the monsters that were eager to leave the darkness. But after about two years, everyone that wanted to leave was successfully moved aboveground and resettled in forests, in lakes, in the city, and in small towns–even one at the top of Mt. Ebott itself, Snowdout.

So there was no reason to go down below. Surely an environment that was once heavily populated and now abandoned would change over a year. Those four people were curious about how it would look now.

But more importantly, the second reason would be because not everything was dismantled and moved from the underground. Almost everything was moved and improved upon in the surface world, but one thing in particular was difficult to relocate. The energy source of the entire underground, the Core. The fact that it couldn't be easily moved up to above ground was a shame, because as it was the monsters in the capital were having to pay an exorbitant amount for electricity from the human city.

If these three people could find the Core, it would not only be a boon for monsters but for the humans in that city as well, who would be given a renewable energy source. It was, in fact, the promise of the Core helped smooth some of the initial friction between the humans and the monsters. That was why they were coming to find it.

It was difficult to relocate for a reason that related to the third reason that this group was going into the underground. Alphys hadn't wanted to shut the Core off for one reason only.

There were monsters in it.

Only a small handful of people... So few people that most of the underground hadn't noticed. In fact, they _really_ hadn't noticed. But there were a small handful of monsters that didn't quite forget. Alphys was one of those people.

In order to get the Core, those monsters would have to be rescued first.

"Now that we're free..." the good doctor had relayed, before their climb, "I started doing more work to try and find a way to help them. It was... Uh... hard! Because... You know, nobody remembers them... Or that they even existed.

"So I ended up having to do everything myself, at least mostly...But!" She had handed to Frisk a folder of documents. "This is the result of all my research. I think as long as you stay determined, there might be... a chance to bring them back."

 

* * *

 

Frisk was one of those four climbing Mt. Ebott that day, with the folder in her pocket. She had looked through the folder for a while, but evidently it was too complicated for her to understand. Alphys told her that when the time came, she would explain the necessary parts as they went over the phone.

Although Alphys hadn't told her this in particular, Frisk had a feeling that Sans was coming along because he knew something about this too. But it was just a hunch. She had asked him about the work room once before, and he hadn't given her any definitive answer. Just pointing out that it was rude to snoop in somebody else's drawers, steal their keys, and visit their private work rooms.

"Sorry not sorry."

That was all they discussed about it, and aside from making puns all the way up the mountain he hadn't said anything else. That was fine; Frisk was used to him not telling her anything.

"NO NEED TO WORRY!" She heard from behind. "WITH I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HERE TO HELP WE WILL COMPLETE THIS MISSION IN RECORD TIME!"

"yep. s'nowdout about it."

"...OUR MISSION IS GOING TO BE A FAILURE."

There was a small entrance in the mountain that, according to Alphys' instructions, would lead down into the core. Not wishing to run into that flower again, or any of the animals that might have... moved in after the evacuation, Frisk was happy to take any route that required as little backtracking as possible. It should be around here somewhere.

She stopped and looked up from the map.

She couldn't see anything of note. There were many rocks around, obscuring the view.

"Hey! What's up, kid?" In her armor, Undyne looked plenty intimidating. Although she wasn't worried with Papyrus and Sans along, Frisk was glad to have yet more muscle.

"It's too rocky. I think there's supposed to be a door here."

"No problem!" She summoned a magic spear, and only in minutes the rocks were reduced to rubble.

After that, the door was easily in view, a deep blue with the same emblem in view as she had once seen all over the Underground.

Frisk smiled big, "Thanks Undyne!" and she ran forward.

She opened it up, and the familiar heat of Hotland blew into the faces of the four standing there, Undyne uttering a groan. "Ugh, I forgot we'd have to go down there. This is going to suck!"

Taking a step into the cavern, Frisk looked back. "Don't worry," she said, taking the folder of documents out of her pocket. "We won't be in there for that long."

"Yeah, let's get this over with!"

Undyne was the first to march inside, even in that sweltering armor. Sans was the last, giving a yawn. "you guys go ahead. i'll catch up after my break."

From entering Hotland, it wouldn't take much time for them to reach the Core. And then from there….something. Alphys would have to tell them. Things could get unpredictable when it came to a magical energy source.

But Frisk believed that she would make a difference.

She had already seen some of those faces of the people that were lost. The grey monsters that were there one moment, speaking, and then gone the next. And that gastly shape…

Black coat, over a white shirt. Huge gaping holes for eyes, with cracks up the left eye and down the right, each with sparks of light and life deep _deep_ within. A gaping hole for the mouth, which had gasped and gotten even wider when she touched the being. He had holes in both skeletal hands.

She had described all of it to the others and then Alphys, and only Alphys understood.

"Yeah! Holes in his hands, that's uh, that was the previous royal scientist. Dr. Gaster."

"Blobby? …Yeah, I guess, um, being, uh, scattered across time can deal you some damage. And, uh, distort your body a bit. Probably."

"Uh, don't worry though. He's not, uh, bad? I d-d-don't know how he is now, though."

"B-but…he's the smartest monster there is. It's because of him that the Core even exists."

"Frisk, i-i-if you can get him back... I think it would d-do a lot of us good up here in New New Home."

* * *

Dark here.

I feel as if I am forgetting something.

But sometimes I start to remember.

It was over a long period that my pieces had begun to reassemble in one place.

I wonder why that is actually.

The effort is so successful that I've even begun wondering again.

It's getting even easier today.

Very interesting what's going to happen next.

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** Dummied Out


	2. Dummied Out

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

The monsters that had fallen into the core, in reality, were not trapped in the Core so much as trapped outside of the real world. Even though it was more so for humans, both monsters and humans existed within reality. Somehow falling into the Core trapped those like Gaster outside of reality, to varying extents. It had something to do it magic, Frisk didn't understand the explanation when it was told her.

What she did understand was that in order to rescue them, the Core would again play a role. Alphys was supposed to tell her what to do in order to help bring those monsters back into reality.

It was fine–by the child's understanding, she had an infinite amount of times to get this right.

Even so, the Core was more intimidating that was the last time she had been here. It was starting to look derelict, beaten up, and the lights were much dimmer now. They winked as she, Papyrus, Sans and Undyne all left the former-hotel walkway behind, as if welcoming them inside begrudgingly after the long absence. There were no more monsters left to roam its hall, but it still felt as if there was something there.

_Ring... ring..._

The phone rang. It was Dr. Alphys.

"Hey, Frisk. How are you guys doing? Have you reached the Core yet?"

"Is that Alphys? LET ME TALK TO HER!"

Frisk had to struggle to keep Undyne at bay now while she held the phone to her ear. "Hi Alphys! We just—got inside—"

"O-oh! That was fast!" Speaking over the phone miles away and above ground, Alphys' voice was a little bit faint and hard to hear. "Okay, you guys just have to make it into the center maintenance room—there sh-should be a setting somewhere on the elevator for you guys. Since the Core is still operating, t-the elevator should be too."

"Hey Alphys!"

"OH TELL HER HOW COOL I WAS WHEN THAT PART OF THE CAVE CEILING ALMOST FELL ON ALL OF US!"

"yeah. if it weren't for you we would have suffered a _crushing_ defeat."

Frisk jammed a finger into her ear. There was too much screaming going on in the background. "…So if you just put it in that order, then it should reverse the negative readings from the... Of the Core."

"Could you repeat that?"

"U-um, okay–"

But the shouting kept going on. Frisk turned around and hissed at the three others, "Quiet!" She was beginning to think that she should go on alone. To Alphys, she said, "Let me get inside the elevator first."

"HUMAN, WAIT! I SHOULD ASSIST YOU!"

"Um." Frisk stood up, shaking her head. "I think that maybe I should do this part on my own?"

Papyrus' expression fell. "NYEH-HEH?"

"Oh, it's just that–I'm afraid with too many people in the elevator, it might break and fall."

"WHAT? YOU'RE WORRIED THAT WITH TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THE ELEVATOR IT WILL BREAK?"

"Um yes." Frisk scratched the back of her head, hoping that Alphys didn't mind being put on hold for so long.

"BRILLIANT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STAND GUARD OUTSIDE THE ELEVATOR FOR YOU."

Frisk nodded, smiling. Looking to Undyne, she then heard her say, "Well if you're going in alone, ugh, I'm going back up to the surface to cool off. You have my number, call me if you need me."

And from Sans, she heard, "i'm gonna take my break. have fun, kid."

"Thanks everyone!" The child smiled at them, before turning and walking into the elevator. The doors closed.

And Frisk went down all alone following Alphys' instructions, aiming for the center of the Core.

* * *

I almost feel like myself again even though it's still dark

And it's impossible to see

I can still feel

Where am I anyway it's so dark

It's like being stuck inside of molasses. If I work hard enough maybe I can

Like before when I could touch something

But ideally this time I will not just touch something, but bring myself into this world again.

I remember that much.

As I am right now I'm drawn to something

It feels unfamiliar.

Something that's unfamiliar in this nothing world is extremely interesting to me.

It also might be a way out if I can keep myself together long enough.

But if it's not the way out then it might on the opposite hand be

that

anomaly

Which is not a good thing.

Its getting darker.

I wonder.

I can feel it moving.

If I reach out I can touch it.

....

This was not the good idea that I believed it to be at first.

* * *

_WARNING!_

_ELEVATOR MALFUNCTION!_

_Something has shorted the power for the Core Elevator of the Core. We hope you have a good day as you plummet!_

"!"

The lights flashed once and then went out.

"Frisk!" Alphys' voice came out over the phone, drowned by the rattling and screeching of the elevator. "Frisk, wha–what–what's happening? H-h-h-hello?"

But no response came.

"F-frisk? Hey! Um! Frisk?"

The floor of the elevator disappeared as Frisk stared, bathed in white. The whiteness spread, turning grey as it moved through the space of the elevator. It enveloped Frisk too, turning grey the stripes of her shirt–and then her shirt. And then her skin, her shoes, her eyes, and then her.

Alphys' voice became clear as the rattling elevator grew silent, but then even that faded away.

Oops.

* * *

 **Next Chapter** : Off Grid


	3. Off Grid

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 39/40

G 10

* * *

The experiment was to some extent a success. Almost audibly, I've come back to my own consciousness, but it feels lousy. My memories are fuzzy in places and my bones feel stiff. I did slam into an elevator, after all.

I've been in this plane before; I recognize the grey interiors close to the true reality. But I don't recall ever being in this place when so much of me was assembled at one time. Now that I can think clearly, it looks to be close to Hotland, if not in Hotland itself. Perhaps my experiment was in part a success due to being near all that familiar equipment.

I say that it was partially a success, but I can't really say for certain. There was an unknown variable, which skews the results.

There's a human in this plane with me. They have been unconscious for some time now.

Is it a girl? A boy? In truth, it doesn't matter. They appear small; I can estimate them to be a child.

It's possible that if I was as far north as I believe, and I ran into them, they too were affected by the Core. If that is the case, then I'm impressed by their supposed stability. On the other hand, it seems natural, given that they _are_ human, that their bodies wouldn't be affected by the Core in the same way as monsters. Now all I can hope is that they will not be like my "followers" in temperament. The last thing I need is to have somebody else trying to run off with a piece of me.

I may as well just leave them. There are other areas that I want to explore and have already stayed in this room for longer than I care to. But I'm hesitant.

This is a human, after all. If they are still alive, which I believe them to be, their SOUL is also here on this plane with me.

It is something that I'll need to be cautious about, but I do have an idea. If I can absorb their SOUL, would it be possible for me to have enough power to get back into the true reality?

Hmm...

It is unfortunate that there is only one here so that I cannot reasonably test this theory.

While I'm waiting for them to wake up, I make several observations on the human. They don't appear to be injured, upon closer inspection, but are instead only sleeping. They are quite small for their species. A child, then. There's a stick clutched tightly in their hands and a locket around their neck. Checking their pockets, I find mostly packets of ketchup, pie, a chocolate bar, and a broken cellphone strung with keys. The make of the cellphone is unfamiliar to me.

Nothing of use, and nothing of interest.

It feels as if I may have come in contact with them once before. It's impossible for me to have met them before my departure from true reality, so they might have met one of my pieces, perhaps? I am just as curious what they were doing here then as I am curious to know what they were doing here now. The humans that end up in the underground are rare.

As they don't appear very strong or holding many defenses, it should be a simple matter to extract their SOUL with an attack or two. I try to summon a magical emitter for this purpose, only to find that my attacks are... Missing. Not all of my pieces have come back together, or else they have been intentionally taken by the other monsters of the various planes. Even my telekinesis is weak, if present at all. That's inconvenient.

My examination more or less complete, I return to the wall for now to study the human at a distance.

They utter a sound when I do this; they seem to finally be stirring. Their head lifts and their eyes open, just a little bit, before picking themselves up.

They haven't noticed me yet when they examine themselves and find the broken cellphone, quickly growing distressed. It is a shame that it's broken, but I doubt it could be used to call anyone unless such a person stood on this plane of reality along with us.

When the human does turn in my direction, they utter another sound. I'm not eager to speak with them, assuming that we will have any avenues of communication at all, but they walk closer.

They are hesitant, as they should be. But that's good; I would prefer a hesitant human over one willing to give me a fight.

* * *

If Frisk was hesitant it was because she recognized the monster she found standing there when she woke up.

In appearance he was much like the phantom she had seen back then, so much so that Frisk was expecting him to disappear with a gasp like back then, too. A big black lab coat over a white turtleneck, and a slightly damaged skull. On further inspection, his form wasn't quite as…blobby as the phantom's, and his face was not as much a collection of gaping holes–the cracks cutting through his eyes were more under control, and the mouth was for once closed.

In this non-distorted form, his face actually looked, just a little bit, like Papyrus. He was more obviously… a skeleton.

This gave Frisk a bit of courage. She extended a hand to the monster, saying, quietly, "Hello."

The monster didn't seem to want to shake hands. Frisk stuck her hands back to her side and stared at the monster intensely.

The monster returned her stare for a while, but then she heard, well... something like gibberish. " ~~WHAT?~~ "

"Um." This certainly gave her room for pause. Although she didn't want to seem rude, she couldn't respond to something she didn't understand. "What?"

The monster went silent for a moment and then spoke again, " ~~STARING AT PEOPLE IS RUDE, HUMAN.~~ " this time, as he spoke, two more floating hands appeared behind him. While the girl watched, the hands began forming words in what she vaguely recognized as sign language.

Fighting social awkwardness, Frisk rubbed the back of her head. "Umm... I'm sorry, but I don't actually..."

" ~~YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING I'M SAYING, CAN YOU?~~ "

"-I don't know sign language," she said

The monster paused for a longer time, putting his normal hands over his face with a sigh. Finally he removed them, and then he said, staring right at her, " ~~I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AND TAKE YOUR SOUL.~~ "

With growing exasperation, Frisk was beginning to worry that this monster didn't speak English at all.

" ~~NO?~~ "

She tilted her head. "Uhhh..." How many different ways could she say she didn't understand what he was saying?

" ~~WHY AM I EVEN BOTHERING, THEN?~~ "

"My name is Frisk," she tried again, pointing to herself. From the monster, she heard another sigh and then finally silence. But she didn't need this monster to introduce himself, because she already had an idea of who he was. She looked over his form carefully, yet again, and rocked back on her heels. "And are you... Supposed to be Dr. Gaster?"

She could tell that that startled him. So maybe he at least understood her a little. She kept going, "You probably are, right? You match his description anyway. So-" She gave him a big smile. "That's great! That means that I've already found you! And I wasn't even trying!"

This should make Alphys happy. ... Can't... Call her though. That wasn't a problem. "I'm going to go away for a second," she told him. "But now that I know how to get to you, I'll come right back." It wasn't really necessary to tell him that, since few people seem to actually remembered when she reloaded. But since she couldn't understand a word of this monster, for the first time it felt as though it was up to her to do the talking.

" ~~WHAT.~~ "

All she would need to do is access her SAVE file so that she wouldn't end up with the destroyed phone.

_You tried to access your SAVE file._

_Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2._

"...?"

Her pulse quickened. It had always worked before, except for that one time when she was in a fight with-

_Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2._

_Your SAVE file has encountered an error._

But it was the same messages every time she tried, until finally the child was beginning to get a headache. She looked over her surroundings, wondering if anything had changed in the crash. She didn't even know where she was, come to think of it. All the walls were gray and didn't look like anyplace that she had seen during her time in the underground. Except maybe once.

"Uhm." Frisk's breathing hitched. She backed up, seeing out of the corner of her eye the skeleton watching her intensely. "I-it-."

_Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2._

_Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2._

"Stop it-!"

_Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2._

_Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2._

_Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2._

"Why isn't it-!"

She stopped altogether. Frisk, instead, began running. This blank room only had one door, which she threw open and dashed out of.

What she saw outside was a grey world of lava and cavern rock.

The empty Hotland, devoid of color and heat.

_Your SAVE file is corrupted_

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter** : Goner Kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably point out here that I have no idea how the Handplates AU is going to end for Gaster, so for all I know Experiments-Conducting-Gaster is going to be completely different from Post-Core-Gaster in that comic, (and heck depending on my skills as a writer Handplates-Gaster is different as a character from ASL-Gaster orz) but still.
> 
> Ah, a brief explanation since I messed up colossally yesterday and didn't realize the site would delete my text if I put wingdings in it; since ArchiveofOurOwn does not apparently support the font, and you're supposed to know what Gaster is saying anyway, I'll indicate when he or anyone else is speaking in wingdings by striking through the dialogue.


	4. Goner Kid

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 39/40

G 10

* * *

Without anyone else in sight, Frisk sat down on the rocky path in Hotland and looked on ahead. She then got uncomfortable and stood back up, wiping at her eyes. As if wiping at her eyes enough would cause the color to go back into them.

What happened?

All she remembered was being in the elevator...

There were footsteps at her back; when she turned around, she could see Dr. Gaster walking out of that room she started in. She stood up, wiping her eyes again. Now they were getting irritated... Like Dr. Gaster, evidently. "How did I get here?"

The monster folded his arms; behind him, the floating hands signed away while he spoke, a double dose of things she didn't get. " ~~I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE ASKING ME WHEN YOU CAN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING.~~ "

"Was it because of the Core?" Now that she thought more deeply about that elevator, she was starting to remember a little bit from before she blacked out. There were chills going down her spine when that image of the floor disappearing under her returned to her mind. "Did I also fall in?"

" ~~...WELL~~."

Frisk looked over at the nearly white lava moving far below them, no heat radiating from it like there should be from magic lava. "Are we inside the Core?"

" ~~NO. WE'RE IN AN ADJACENT PLANE OF EXISTENCE ACCESSED BY-~~ "

"Ah, whatever." Frisk looked across the landscape at where there was once an elevator reaching to the higher levels of Hotland-already dismantled and taken up to the surface. In its place was just a ladder. "Maybe I have to get back up. Maybe they're still there waiting for me..." She turned back to Dr. Gaster, stuffing a hand into her pocket. "I need something to talk to you with, somehow." She couldn't find any paper no matter how hard she searched her pockets, though. Maybe it fell out during the elevator crash. "Nevermind. We'll work on it!"

The fact was, Dr. Gaster was beginning to creep her out. His expression didn't change no matter what she said-even the phantom of him had reacted more than this to her presence. The only variance in that frown was for the skeleton to look a little bit puzzled at some of the things she said.

Well, maybe it was hard with his face still cracked up like that. That looked like it had hurt when it happened, whenever it happened.

Frisk was confident he would follow while she scaled the ladder, but if he didn't then she wouldn't mind. What was most important was reaching Sans and Papyrus at the top of the cavern network-she could only hope that, despite...whatever had happened with the Core, she could still interact with them in some way.

Like how she had spoken to those specters a long time ago.

But Frisk didn't want to be like them in their other ways.

Before she made it up the whole way, she could see something strange on the next level. It made her hesitate on the ladder, and she climbed off onto the rocky path while squinting her eyes. It was hard to tell when there was no color, but it looked like… Something flat on the floor, and yet active. Frisk walked closer but it didn't seem to get any clearer, even when she was almost standing on top of it. It reminded her of when she was a smaller child and would see a big black spot on the sidewalk, only to find out that it was a mass of ants-only this time, they were solid blocks, and in varying shades of gray rather than all black. They did seem to be making up an image, too-a familiar one.

"Hey!"

She reached a hand out and touched the flat moving shape, an armless child wearing a striped shirt. Even though it didn't raise from the floor at all, she still felt like there was something different about the space it occupied. And when she touched it, the head moved towards her hand. Now she was sure of it; she recognized that face. Although she had no idea what it was doing here, of all places. "Yo!"

The image moved, but it didn't respond. Frisk wondered if he might be stuck in the floor somehow. "Hold on..."

Feeling a little bit like a small cat, the child reached and scrabbled against the rock; she would have just stopped because it was silly to think she could pull an image out of rock, and it was starting to make her nails hurt, but she was encouraged by the fact that image was responding to every movement that she made. Besides which, and looked very uncomfortable to be in the rock like this and she wouldn't wish that on anybody.

_You try to pull the kid free._

_He seems excited by your efforts._

His white eyes flashed open and closed and his mouth gaped at her.

Maybe, if she used both hands... "C'mon, c'mon..."

Would it be easier if she could use magic? But then, she had never learned how magic worked. Maybe it would just make things worse, since the Core also runs on magic.

Frisk gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and tried her hardest to wrap her hands around the body of the kid stuck in the rock. "It's going to be all right-!"

And then, no longer looking at the flat shape, she felt her hands encase something three-dimensional. Biting her tongue, she tugged until she heard an audible pop!. When she opened her eyes, the kid was looking at her with his white eyes, his body held in her hands. "..."

Setting them down gently, Frisk wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead. There he was. And he looked different from before-instead of being yellow, or even gray, he was a light orange color with a yellow striped shirt, white eyes aside. Frisk took a step back to take it all in.

Actually... Now that she was looking at him properly, she thought that he looked a little bit smaller than the other ki-

"You should have just forgotten about this."

_Thwock!_

**-10 HP**

* * *

My list of questions is only growing.

It's not only because of this human, either. The infrastructure of Hotland is different from when I saw it last. I don't see any more elevators, homes, or other buildings. I don't see any monsters, either... Although all that in itself, for what little I can remember, may well be ordinary for this plane of existence. Even so it still bothers me. And more irritating is that I am not able to ask any of these questions of the one other person here. I still don't even know what that panicked display was about earlier.

They are already running off after babbling something else. ...I must give them credit, for a human with no magic they are extraordinarily fast. Although I can kill them with my own hands, catching them-should they learn my intentions and escape-is another matter.

I'll simply follow them, for now.

They can't have that far to go to "find" their companions.

But they've already stopped on a detour, I can see. At first I can't guess their aim in scratching at the ground in the way that they are, and I wonder if it's just a human thing, but then I see their results.

It's in a blur of white and black square spots, forming around the child's hands and the ground that they're scratching at. But after the small spots have vanished, what remains behind is another form that is vaguely familiar to me. It's not one that has chased after me enough to call a "follower", but it is one of the monsters that my scattered self has encountered multiple times.

The human pulled it from one plane into ours.

I wish I had something to write these observations down with. Never in my studies have I determined a human being capable of such a thing-not that I've had a chance to assess travel across parallel worlds.

_Thwock!_

-This was a mistake for the human. If I could communicate with them, I could have told them that. Already the monster is attacking them. Perhaps they seek their SOUL as well.

What irks me more is that the attack is familiar-because it's my attack. The monster child has stolen one of my pieces and is sending bones through the air. One of them has already struck the human full on in the face.

At first, seeing them go down, I'm concerned-

That my chance to go home will be taken by this other, insane child.

But the moment the human falls, they're already getting back up.

I can see their SOUL as they stand, the object of this fight. Glowing red, a human color, and visible about their chest.

That SOUL, and the human attached to it, is suddenly very active. The monster child hasn't stopped their assault-in fact, I may need to take cover, myself-but the human hasn't been hit since the first strike. That intense speed I witnessed before is now being put to use avoiding each attack. Although they are hemmed in by the edges of this path and the nature of some of these attacks, they continue moving without hesitation. When they reach an edge, they use the outcropping of rock as a kickoff point. If they pause at any given spot, they nonetheless dodge the bones thrown at them and jump from the attacks that run along the ground.

They seem at ease doing this. They've been in battle before.

If they give unnecessary pause for anything, it's to continue talking to their attacker.

I don't understand the point of this. The monster obviously is beyond the point of comprehension; it cannot react to words such as "I don't want to fight" or even something as ludicrous as "Do you want to hear a joke?" Those words do nothing for their survival.

At some point, they even dropped their stick when such a pause almost tripped them up. Impressive as their skills at avoidance are, the human doesn't appear very bright.

If I am to keep the monster child from absorbing this human's SOUL, I evidently need to intervene. With no weapons, the stick will do. Even with just a stick, it should be... easy... to disperse this monster. So long as I don't get a beating from my own attack.

Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. I'm not as quick as that human no matter how hard I try, and the bones slam into me several times. It doesn't matter as much as it does for the human. I can take ten hits, even twenty hits, and it wouldn't matter. It's just inconvenient.

_Smash!_

Before I made it to that monster child, I saw the human go down again, the second time they've been hit. That gives the monster the hesitation that I need.

... I didn't want his fate to be this.

**-100 HP**

**+10 EXP**

But I don't have a choice. His dust soon scatters over the pathway. As he disappears, I can feel... Something. A piece of me clicks back in place, again audibly.

I now have my bone attack.

And with him gone, it's just me and the human.

* * *

  **Next Chapter:** Don't Cry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By "every couple days" I of course meant every day since I don't have the energy to post them all at once but I am an impatient person orz.
> 
> Also check out the last chapter because I fixed it from yesterday IT HAS ALL OF IT ON THERE NOW. ;w;


	5. Don't Cry

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 19/40

G 10

* * *

Frisk groaned and rubbed her face. Now everything hurt; who knew that two bones could pack such a punch? Her face was bleeding. She was expecting to get hit again when she opened her eyes, but instead she didn't see any the monster kid at all.

Just Dr. Gaster, who caught up to her after all. He tossed her stick on the ground and approached her.

"What happened... to...?" Her voice trailed off; she struggled to stand, wincing at but not deterred by her aching body. As usual, there was no reply to her question from Dr. Gaster, and this time there wasn't even an attempt at one. Frisk looked left and right for a trace of the monster kid, but there was none of that either. "... I hope that... he..."

Dr. Gaster started to wave a hand-

"Oh!"

He stopped. There was a rattling from somewhere.

Frisk was reaching into her pockets for something, or head ducked down. "I guess that he hit you too. That looks bad." She found what she was looking for in an instant, pulling out a piece of pie and holding it out towards the skeleton. "Here, you can eat this if you want."

He stared at her and then the piece of pie, but made no move to grab it. Frisk cleared her throat, giving him a shaky smile. "It's okay. I have plenty." She took a step closer, offering the pie again. "I don't know if you have your own food, or what."

" ~~OF COURSE I DON'T HAVE...~~ " The skeleton put his hands in his pockets and then took them out again, empty. " ~~SEE?~~ "

"Right. So you should take this. I also have to eat after a fight like that," Frisk mumbled. She pulled out a chocolate bar and began to munch, one hand still holding out a piece of pie, which she also watched from the corner of her eye.

_Your HP was maxed out._

He still didn't take it. Not until Frisk was already done with chocolate and her arm was starting to get tired-only then did he hesitantly take the piece of pie. He wasn't looking at her as he took a bite of it.

And then he spat, without even chewing. He spat noodles and the pie was dripping meat sauce.

" ~~!~~ "

Frisk started laughing. "Oh my god!" She covered her face and fell back on her bottom, giggling hysterically. "Oh my god I forgot that it was spaghetti pie!" As Dr. Gaster stared in disbelief at the flaky pie that was stuffed with noodles, sauce, cheese and a meatball, Frisk held her sides and laughed even harder. "I'm-I'm-s-sorry! I forgot! It tastes really awful doesn't it?!"

_Dr. Gaster's HP was maxed out._

" ~~WHAT THE HELL IS THIS.~~ "

"I'm sorry! Hahahaha! I'm sorry! I forgot!"

" ~~WHY DID SOMEONE MAKE THIS. IS THIS WHAT HUMAN FOOD IS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE? WHY HAVEN'T HUMANS DIED ALREADY?~~ "

Frisk wiped tears from her eyes and kept going in breathless silence as he talked. When she eventually was able to control herself, she looked back up at Dr. Gaster with a huge grin on her face, even as he had already dropped the pie and was wiping the meat sauce off of himself. "He he he... I thought it was butterscotch pie, I totally forgot that he helped out this time..." she crawled forward and took the half eaten pie off the ground. "I guess it's done its job anyway, though."

Dr. Gaster's face was screwed up; he still had some taste of it on his teeth. Frisk took a deep breath and stood back up, throwing the pie away. She gave another breathless chuckle. "I know, it tastes terrible, but my friends made it for me for the trip. So I couldn't just disappoint them, haha. I probably should have had the pie and you could eat the chocolate, huh?"

There was no response, unintelligible or otherwise, from him now. He brushed at the sleeve of his lab coat and spat again.

"It's fine...when we get out of here, I'll ask her to make you some butterscotch pie instead. You don't hate butterscotch, do you?"

" ~~WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?~~ "

That was a yes or no question; Frisk sighed and wiped her hands on her shirt. "I have to find my friends now, though. I hope they're alright without me." As she was saying such, the girl walked past Dr. Gaster and back to the ladder. "Let's see...if they're back in the Core, and judging by where I am now, I'm already on the right side...so I'll just keep climbing up!"

Why did they have to take out EVERY elevator? Couldn't they just build new ones? What was a bit of junk in the underground going to hurt, especially if anyone ever had to go back to this place for something? Frisk groaned.

At least they weren't stairs. But then, you didn't risk falling to your death when you let go of your grip on stairs.

Not that Frisk had ever died from falling before.

It was just such a pain. Such...a...pain...

She flopped on the final walkway, panting for breath, and felt like the palms of her hands were on fire. She didn't know how long it had taken-hopefully no one was getting worried about her. If she was going to be gone for such a very long time, she would have called by now... that must be what they're thinking. So she had to hurry and get up, even though she was tired from the climb. She still had to walk all the way up the stairs to the remains of the hotel. "Uhhhgh."

When she finally stood up, Dr. Gaster was already standing behind her. "Ah!" She jumped back, startled. And then she sheepishly relaxed. "Hi. Almost there."

" ~~DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT THIS IS POINTLESS?~~ "

"Uhh..." Frisk began to walk to the stairs. "Right."

From behind, she could hear him still talking, " ~~THEY WON'T SEE YOU. THEY WON'T HEAR YOU. THEY WON'T REMEMBER YOU.~~ " All of the things that he was saying-it wasn't that she could understand him. It might be, though, that he had been talking to her long enough that she was beginning to differentiate between the various sounds he made. She had a feeling that he was saying something important, though. "Come on!"

Because she was so close now, and recovering from her long climb, Frisk took off running yet again.

" ~~IT DOESN'T MATTER.~~ "

Up the steps. Towards the shell of a hotel.

" ~~I CAN KILL YOU NOW.~~ "

From where she could hear, Dr. Gaster was at least following. She felt a little bad just running off from him, even if he was creepy, but she needed to know that her friends were still there.

Even if everything around her looked different, or they might actually be trapped somewhere else entirely, maybe she could communicate with them somehow. That was her hope.

" ~~I WILL BE FREE, AND THEN I CAN RESUME-~~ "

Dr. Gaster's speech came to an abrupt stop.

Frisk came to an abrupt stop at the foot of the stairs.

"If we're going to look anywhere, we should look in Waterfall." Undyne had taken off her armor; probably as a means to counteract the extreme heat she was enduring. "There's plenty of hiding spots behind walls of water!"

"yeah it's a pretty good place to nap. shame there isn't a shorter way to get there now."

Papyrus was in the lead, of course. "DON'T COMPLAIN, SANS, THE WALK WILL BE GOOD FOR YOU!"

"you should carry me."

"NO."

Frisk watched those three, stared for a few moments. Unlike the kid she'd fought earlier, they were all as colorless as her surroundings.

"c'mon bro."

"SANS DON'T BE A LAZYBONES."

She didn't walk any closer. Instead, she just watched them walk closer and closer to her, before beginning to descend the stairs too. All without saying anything to her. It's not that she expected them to actually notice her- well, she might have- but why...?

"Why are you leaving...?" She stared as Sans plopped down on the ground, "zzzz" ing. Papyrus, screeching with exasperation, picked him back up again and they kept moving. They walked past Frisk and descended the stone stairs.

"You guys gonna keep clowning around when we get attacked by the bats down here?" Undyne growled. "Come on. The sooner we find the maintenance key the sooner we can get back to New New Home."

She turned and reached a hand to them. Any of them. "What are you talking about? Maintenance key? I _have_ the maintenance key right here!" What about me? I-I'm still down there!" But her hand passed right through Undyne with a blur of little blocks.

**-1 HP**

"FINDING A KEY SHOULDN'T BE A HARD TASK! I BET I COULD EVEN FIND IT BY MYSELF!" Papyrus charged ahead on the stairs, even with Sans tucked under his arm. "DON'T WORRY UNDYNE!"

"oh no he's getting all keyed up again."

"SANS YOU'VE LOST YOUR CARRYING PRIVILEGES."

Her breath hitched for another time since coming into this strange world. Frisk ran after Papyrus and reached for him, too, but her hand only went through his arm in the same way as it had Undyne's. When she reached for Sans she missed altogether, the smaller skeleton deposited suddenly on the stairs and out of her reach.

At that he woke up. "aw jeeze. say, bro." He sat up, and Papyrus stopped. "ya feel like we might be forgetting something?"

Frisk shoved his shoulder and he remained in place, but her hand stung as she phased through him. **-1 HP** "Me! You're forgetting me! Sans! Tell them to turn around!"

"NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT..." Papyrus looked left and right. Frisk jumped up into his vision, waving her arms. "It's me! I fell in the elevator! Weren't you worried about me? I'm stuck here! Papyrus!"

But he walked right through her and Frisk's whole body stung, causing her to gasp. **-1 HP** "...OH WELL. IT CAN'T BE THAT IMPORTANT!"

"Papyrus...? Sans...? Undyne...? Undyne!" Frisk ran to her again while Sans got up. "Undyne! Undyne! Can't you tell that I'm not there?"

"UGH. You guys, seriously! Hurry up! I still hate it here!" Undyne

Frisk blinked. "Wait-you guys-!" Even Sans was getting up. "Sans! Papyrus! Undyne!"

"...Don't need that river person, I can paddle us through the canal no sweat!"

Her eyes were getting dusty. Frisk blinked harder, "Sans...Papyrus? Sans, you don't even...?" She ran down the steps and to the littler skeleton. "You know I'm missing, right? You're going to help me, right?"

"papyrus you should carry me bro."

"SANS, NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR UNPROFESSIONALISM."

Frisk poked Sans in the back repeatedly. He didn't react, but her finger went through each time with a snap of tiny blocks. **-1 HP -1 HP -1 HP -1 HP -1 HP** "alrighty. i'll meet you over there."

"SANNNNS."

_"Have you ever thought about a world where everything is exactly the same. Except you don't exist?"_

Her hands went to her heart, and the locket hanging over it. "Oh." Papyrus picked Sans back up, and the three of them walked away from the stairs together. Frisk wavered and rubbed at the prickling corners of her eyes. "Oh no..."

_You try not to cry._

_Nobody seems to notice._

Not knowing what she needed to do next, Frisk sniffed and looked around for Dr. Gaster.

"...?" She couldn't see him anywhere. She drooped. "Now what..."

Right now, Frisk was all alone.

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** Scary Guy


	6. Scary Guy

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 32/40

G 10

* * *

This is unbelievable.

How long was I gone?

...Unbelievable.

I need a cigarette but apparently they didn't reconstitute with the rest of me.

...

Not all of my memories are here. There are times when I'm sure pieces are missing. But for those two... ... Those memories are the clearest.

What I did... What they were... All of it, I can remember.

In spite of everything, I hadn't thought about what happened to them since my coming here. I didn't have the presence of mind to. Or maybe I simply didn't wish to. Now that I've seen them, I have the spottiest of feelings that I encountered them before, on occasion, when I was still in pieces. But if I did, I'm sure that they didn't see me.

So they are still together, still "brothers." They seem to have made friends. Even if one of them was, apparently, a human.

Friends, names, tasks to complete, a home to return to. Normal lives, such as it is.

They seem so... Carefree. That's, naturally, how they are in a world without me in it.

-There's no point to carrying on like this. There's no way to change a single part of it.

But seeing them doesn't just bring back those memories. I've realized, I don't know _anything_ anymore. Not what happened to them, or this kingdom, or even how long I've been gone. I don't know if anything I did was actually worth it in the end. After all, I never completed the project, and there would be no way for me to complete it now.

There are too many questions that I can't answer. Why was that human looking for me? How did they even know to look for me? What are they doing with my-

I can't very well ask them.

Where are they, anyway?

They were upset, learning the nature of their disappearance. I didn't stay to watch what they would do, it wasn't my concern.

Instead I sought more familiar ground. I moved down the walkways to my old laboratory, at the bottom floor of Hotland near the river. When I got here, I saw that it too was gone. The spot on which it once stood has tiles and pieces of steel left behind to show that something was here, but all my equipment and the building itself is missing. Without any of the chairs left, I had nothing to sit on but a rock.

It's possible that if I move the debris a bit, I can find the entrance to True Lab in these ruins. I'm not in the mood to try it and find that even that is gone. I'm not in the mood to try it and see that it's still here.

Since seeing actual monsters, such as-those two, I have the feeling that these colorless surroundings are reflections of reality, and not just empty because this world is one of anomalies. If that's the case, how much more of the underground is like this? Are all the towns and the capital city all gone as well? If so, why? What caused a depopulation of this magnitude?

...Could it be-

Wait. What is that noise?

It's coming from above. It sounds familiar; the human? What are they getting up to? Are they still carrying on about their friends ignoring them?

...Pathetic. Everyone in this place has experienced the same.

We wouldn't be in this mess, and none of any of this would have happened, if we weren't trapped underground in the first place.

Still, I have to find them sooner or later. I might as well do it while they're making a racket.

After finally spotting them on the second level...

They're in another fight.

Once again, it's with one of my "followers", although this one isn't using my attack on them. The faceless being is instead stretching out their arms to impossible lengths, attempting to box them in. I've seen them use that attack before, although of course in a very different context. Once again, however, the human is proving impressively agile. And like before, the entire time I can hear them making pointless entreaties and nonsensical statements. I don't think the phrase "you look nice today" means anything to somebody who doesn't have a face anymore anyway. I can see that the human's words are only giving him clues to where they are, sightless as he is now.

As his arms fill up the area it gets harder for the human to move around the monster, but they still manage to avoid those grasping hands and arms even to the very last moment, where it all has to snap back into place on his body.

That said, the human wobbles and falls backwards right after the snap-back.

And immediately afterwards, they've seen me. They give a warning. I'm not intimidated by the monster turning around to face me, however; like before, even if I can't avoid the attacks as easily as they can, it won't do me significant damage if he lands a blow.

However, it seems that I've made a mistake. A miscalculation.

Those arms were not his only attack.

Another piece of me was in his hands, and the next thing I see is a magic emitter forming right in front of me. My emitter. I have only a second to register that before the dog's head expels a blast of energy.

But I'm not getting killed by my own attack.

Although just barely, I've avoided the first blast. And I'm not waiting for him to make a second one.

Again, it only takes one hit to turn this one to dust.

**\- 100 HP**

**\+ 10 EXP**

From that dust rises the piece of me, in the shape of a skull. I have my head already, of course, but the cracks in my face are mended as the piece is absorbed. It's the feeling of becoming whole.

Well, I'm not quite whole. Maybe I'll never be "whole". But I also have something more important: my blasting attack.

I'm not amused by the look on this human's face.

Yes, I'm scary. You should have figured that out already. It's only lucky for you that I don't have my telekinesis yet.

The human seems to be attracting these other monsters to them; this attraction may be responsible for my collision with them in the first place. If that's the case, and if it's the case that more of the monsters trapped by the Core are holding pieces of me, then refraining from taking their SOUL is practical for becoming whole again. To that end, I'll hold off unless they attack first.

Just for now, that is.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Howdy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this fic I'm assuming that the pieces of Gaster are not literally pieces of his body, since one of his followers supposedly was holding his head and yet we see Gaster's sprite with his head in-game. (Unless of course that was some random head...) 
> 
> They are, however, helping with restabilizing his physical form as well as giving him his attacks back. So yes, there it is.
> 
> This chapter was pretty short 0 0 I'll post another today


	7. Howdy!

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 32/40

G 10

* * *

Frisk had dust on her face. She wiped it away with one hand, while the other was holding on tightly to the stick. "You... you... don't do that again." Dr. Gaster made no reply, but only looked at her with that dark stare. She kept going, then, "We don't have to fight. They're also stuck here like us, so we should be working together, not fighting."

" ~~DON'T BE NAIVE.~~ "

Whatever he said, it didn't sound contrite. Not that she had expected it to be... she could tell, his EXP was already so high. Even before, when the kid disappeared, she had only hoped that it wasn't because of him. Was this really the Dr. Gaster that Alphys wanted her to bring back for the good of the other monsters? Frisk was growing less and less sure.

Too bad she couldn't call Alphys right now.

While she was thinking, she saw Dr. Gaster gesture to her. Now what did he want? Frisk shook her head and took a step back. This was dangerous. She couldn't SAVE, or even reach her SAVE file, and if she couldn't do either of those things what would happen to her when she died in this world? She wasn't keen to find out.

Impatiently, he gestured to her again. Frisk shook her head. Then, hearing his startled shouting, she turned and ran down the walkway. " ~~WHERE ARE YOU GO-! NO. COME BACK- DAMMIT!~~ "

Yet again her speed came in handy, and she slid down the ladder without breaking her pace. Frisk wasn't going to stop running until she'd found anything else. Maybe not until she ran into her friends again, even if they didn't see her just now. She ignored any of his irritated shouting, and in time it grew farther and farther away.

The non-heat of grey Hotland would eventually be replaced by the non-heat of the grey caves in Waterfall. Frisk had almost forgotten just how quickly someone could move from one spot to the next if they were really set on reaching their destination... Although back then, she had spent forever in this wet cavernous place just trying to find the way out. If Dr. Gaster was following her, it would be easier to lose him in those caverns.

Unfortunately, she ran out of breath just after exiting Hotland and almost collapsed on the ground. At a much slower pace, the child made her way to the Waterfall cavern's bridge and plopped down before the grey stalagmites and grey floorboards, trying to catch her breath.

She'd get herself lost deeper in this place later...

At any rate, she didn't hear him coming after her yet.

Waterfall felt so different now without any color or sound. It was darker here than it was in Hotland, but she couldn't feel the cool dampness of the cave that she once did. Frisk wondered if, farther in, any echo flowers would even hear her when she called to them. ...That might be a good thing to test. She wanted to get up the will to stand so she could find some, but her legs hurt _. I guess I've been jumping and running around a lot today,_ she thought to herself. What a nightmare she was having.

She just closed her eyes when she heard a voice in front of her, and it made her jump. "Well howdy!"

By the time she opened her eyes again, in front of Frisk was a flower.

But it wasn't an echo flower.

"It's me, Flowey!"

Frisk's mouth fell open and she gaped. The little creature was just there, standing upright in the rock as though it were soil. There was no color to him, though, as with everything else. His friendly smile changed as he rolled his eyes. "You know, the flower? Were you expecting someone else, maybe?"

Shaking her head, Frisk tried to speak and it came out squeaky. "You can see me?"

"Of course! But hey, you don't look so good," his little head of petals bobbed in place and he moved around to get a good look at the child. "What happened to you?" From Frisk there was no reply, so he continued. "No, don't tell me. I've seen it before-you fell into that machine, didn't you?"

So he knew about it, too? Frisk clutched her locket. "...How do you remember me?"

"Pshyeah, like I would ever forget you," Flowey said, smirking. "You're the least boring person around here." His face then immediately and dramatically shifted, becoming skull-like. "Even though you've been **avoiding** me for three years."

"...I'm sorry." Frisk screwed up her face.

"Huh? Don't worry about it. Looks like you got yourself into some trouble!" The flower couldn't suppress the sadistic smile on his face, empty eyes gleeful. "How'd that happen?"

"...The elevator."

"Elevator broke, huh? I won't ask what you were doing there in the first place." The flower snickered again, "Actually, I've been following you the entire time since you came down here."

Frisk stared. "..."

"I mean, what else am I going to do?"

"...Flowey. You don't seem surprised." She looked pointedly in the flower's direction, pressing her lips together in a tight line and squinting. Flowey looked left and right, a bead of sweat appearing on his face as she continued staring. "How did you know about this?" She gestured to herself. Perhaps to Flowey, she looked grey just like those other monsters did, once.

"W-well...hey . . . . well, you know. Uh." Flowey's face twisted again and he laughed. "I saw it happen to other people before!"

"Like... Dr. Gaster?"

Petals waving, Flowey shook his head. "No, it happened to him _before_ I was...well... this. I started to get curious, though, so I tried it out with a couple people."

The child's eyes got wider. Seeing her shocked face, Flowey was encouraged to continue with a devious grin. "Oh yeah! I tripped that stupid kid in there...that one, I didn't even need to be there, really, he was so clumsy. Then there was that stretchy guy and Likker... Actually, I pushed Likker in. He was stubborn"

"You made them...fall in...?" Frisk's hands tightened into fists, one still holding her necklace so hard that it might break.

Flowey laughed again, "Why so mad. . . ? It was HILARIOUS." He paused.

"You pushed them in-!"

"-But you know. Even more hilarious... is that I learned once you fall in, y o u  c a n' t  c o m e  b a c k." The flower laughed, and all Frisk could do was sit there. She had to remind herself, even if she wanted to she couldn't even touch Flowey. The smile slowly fell from his face as she glared. "Although... I guess... that means you can't either, since you fell in too."

Frisk made no sound. But inside, she knew that the flower was wrong. She would get out of this place, she was sure of it. Even if she didn't yet know how. ...In all honesty, that scary Dr. Gaster was the only scientist she could talk to right now who might have any ideas. Although she couldn't really talk to him. "Hmm..."

From in front of her, Flowey squinted. "...Whaaat? What is it? You don't talk enough."

"...Do you know sign language?"

"Do I know sign language? Oh, sure! _Everyone_ in the kingdom knows that. Not every monster has a mouth, you know."

"... ..."

"What? You want me to teach you?"

Frisk nodded.

Flowey smiled. "Sure!" His smile became big and sarcastic. "With _whose_ arms?"

"... Nevermind..."

He laughed; again, that horrible distorted laugh. It made Frisk wrinkle her face up again. "No, I can give you a quick tutorial. If someone can lend me a _hand_." He rolled his eyes as the girl quickly shook her head. "Why did you ask?"

The child only shrugged, trying to smile a little. There was no reason for Flowey to know what she was up to. After all, if he wasn't helping he was going to be hurting. He wasn't in the same place as them, anyway, so even if he would help where Dr. Gaster was concerned...

The flower sighed and smiled, resigned. The human was always like this, even in the days when they first met. "Well, anyway, what are you up to? Or at least, where are you going?"

Frisk bit her lip. "Since you've been following me, do you know where the others are?"

"Oh, those boring guys?" The flower jerked a leaf behind himself, to the other end of the bridge. "You have a long way to catch up with them. And they aren't going to notice when you do."

She was already tired, but Frisk stood up. "I don't mind. I don't know what I'm looking for yet." She began to walk. The bridge creaked under her feet, no longer maintained after the caverns depopulated, but it didn't seem to be in risk of collapsing under her small weight. "Are you coming?"

"...Uh... I guess it's... I mean..." The flower's smile became a look of disgust and discomfort, but looking at him Frisk's smile didn't change. "Sure. I'm not getting close to him, though. You know. The short one."

"That's okay. I'll just be glad to have you to talk to on the way," Frisk said, playing with the keys on her keychain.

" _Why?_ "

There was no response from the child, who reached the other side of the bridge and kept going. From her came just a soft humming, a song she often heard on the MTT channel back at New New Home.

"Hmph. You barely _talk_ at all," Flowey muttered as he began to follow behind, roots pulling and rooting through the rocky dirt.

While they walked, neither Frisk nor Flowey noticed that, the whole time, the child was being quietly followed by the skeleton in the black lab coat.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** There's No Key


	8. There's No Key

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 34/40

G 10

* * *

If the human won't come with me, I'll just have to be the "follower" for the moment.

Unfortunately the human progresses agonizingly slowly through these caverns, along with that plant monster. It's wearing my patience thin the way that they stop to check every detail of the caves, despite knowing that it isn't possible to interact with any of it in a meaningful way. And the plant monster makes me wary. I don't recall encountering it before, but nature it seems to be similar to that _anomaly._ ...Even if at present it acts benign.

In much the same way as Hotland, Waterfall is devoid of people and structures. The only thing left in these caverns are the echo flowers emitting white noise as we pass. At first the human tried talking into one, but it in response emitted such an unearthly screech that I thought my bones would shatter. So now the human doesn't speak into one. They just pause to listen to each and every flower as they pass.

Eventually, we reach a place with a dearth of them. I know this place; it's close to the dump.

By the purposeful way that the human walks through this area, I know they're familiar with it.

Why is that? There's a story that I'm missing.

They are heading to the garbage dump now. I know they'll come back this way, so unless I hear more screaming and bad jokes from that direction I won't follow. I feel obliged to check if the neighborhood around this spot is still here.

* * *

Frisk made a lucky guess once she reached the site of Undyne's former house. Sans, Papyrus, and Undyne were rooting through the garbage dump when she finally found them, Flowey hanging back at the entrance as the child began to wade through the water.

"WOWIE! SANS, IT'S THE STROGANOFF THAT I MADE FOR CHRISTMAS LAST YEAR! SEE? THE PLATE HAS MY NAME ON IT!"

Frisk curled up on a pile of garbage and watched the three of them silently for a while, as Sans started making a pasta pun which she had heard two hundred and fifty times and counting. She brought her phone out again. The screen was cracked and it wouldn't turn on, but she played around with the buttons anyway. It was a shame, because there was a lot more food and other things to play with in her dimensional box... But now she had to make do with only one piece of spaghetti pie left.

Not only was she still injured from the last battle, although she was also starting to slowly heal, but she could see a strange pixelated shape moving up and down in waterfalls of the dump, and she had a feeling that it was another monster trapped in this world.

Technically, she didn't even have to bring them out of... Wherever it was that they were. She could just leave them in the waterfall. Frisk knew that; she wasn't being stupid and inviting pointless battles. Well, she might've been doing the second part, but it was with full knowledge that just like the other two, this monster was probably going to attack her.

She just couldn't stand to see them like that. It might have helped that as she looked at this monster long enough, the parts that she suspected were its eyes became focused on her. Knowing that she could see them. Maybe even knowing that she could help them.

Heck if Frisk knew why it was that she was able to bring them into this colorless world. Each time she did it, all she was doing was concentrating. She didn't chant any spell or do any significant hand gestures. Maybe it was magic. Humans didn't have magic, but Frisk didn't think humans could RESET either.

She would ask Alphys or Sans if she could.

"looks like this mission was a load of garbage."

"This is impossible! It's like finding a needle in a haystack! And if one more of those 'bat' things comes by I'm going to turn this place into a PINCUSHION!"

"NYEH! YOU TWO SIMPLY HAVE TO PUT FORTH MORE EFFORT! LOOK AT ALL THE COOL THINGS I FOUND IN THIS PILE!"

Frisk rested her head on one hand, holding up her phone's keychain. "You guys can't find the maintenance key because it doesn't exist anymore _because I have it right here_. ...There is no key!" There was, of course, no response from the three of them. "You would know that if you still knew that I existed."

She stuck her tongue out at them.

She thought Sans, at least, given everything that had happened when she was trapped in the underground... _Ugh._ Why was she forgettable to those three, and not to Flowey of all people?

She was sure there was a logical reason. Even so, in a fit of bad temper Frisk took the maintenance key off her chain and threw it at Sans. "Stupidhead."

Contrary to what she was hoping, the key went right through him. "-!" That alone wasn't too surprising. But Frisk put her hands over her mouth as she watched Sans suddenly shiver.

"Hmm? What's up?" Undyne turned, tossing aside a busted Spookwave CD.

Frisk curled up tighter on her precarious seat. "Oops, oops, oops, oops-"

The light of Sans' eyes disappeared for a moment, before he shook his head and the shivering stopped. "... huh. nothin'. felt a chill there."

Then she let out a breath. Slipping off the junked cooler, she waded through the water and picked up the key again. Even her clothes refused to get wet, despite feeling the water slosh around her just the same as in the real, not-Core world. "When I get back I'm taking all your hot dogs, you jerk," she muttered, sticking her tongue out at him again.

While she was over here, she could cross the rest of the distance to the waterfall. Where that little monster was moving about, growing even faster as she came near. Frisk squeezed her eyes shut and reached for the monster. Her hands, at first only hit water and air following that. But she grit her teeth and tried again, tried to feel the contours of what she thought might be a crispy black gingerbread man.

Black licorice gingerbread men would be pretty cool-

Her hands hit something solid. Opening her eyes, she saw the pixely monster had stopped moving and was staring straight at her with huge saucer eyes. Frisk couldn't help trembling a little as she tried to get a grip, as best she could, on their body and tugged. It didn't want to come with her at first, but in a moment of small blocks of light and fizzing static it came with her out of the wall of water. Frisk yelped as she, as a result, lost her footing and fell into the pool.

The monster staggered and waddled on two small stubby feet, blinking before finally regaining its balance. A bead of sweat went down its head and it kept staring at Frisk. Frisk, in turn, kept staring back. Like a crab she started to slide backwards in the water, away from it. About this time, the other two monsters had attacked her. She didn't even know what attack this one was going to throw at her.

Perhaps the saddest thing about this situation to her was that Sans and Papyrus were having an argument about ten feet away from her, while Undyne speared trash and looked half-heartedly through boxes.

But this time, as she waited and slowly got to her feet, there was no attack forthcoming. He was just staring at her.

So Frisk took a chance and coughed, saying in a scratchy whisper, "Hello."

"...Hi."

Her heart jumped into her throat.

Maybe they weren't all mad. Maybe she could even get help from this one. Maybe... although the cold feeling in her stomach wasn't going away when there was no other response from the monster. She ventured again, "Are you okay?"

"...Sure. But are you?"

Frisk clutched her locket. "I think s-so."

The monster nodded, thoughtfully. He wobbled off the garbage and into the ankle-deep water. "I'm going now."

"Oh. Um, 'bye," Frisk said. He began to wobble away with a wave, and she waved back. Stunned, she could only watch them wade through the water until they turned a corner and disappeared.

She could suddenly hear Flowey's voice echo from around that corner, "Hey you didn't kill Frisk did you?"

Smiling a little, she felt obliged to reply, "I'm fine, Flowey!"

The flower's reply was so quick that it almost cut her off, "Oh of _course_ you are! I didn't hear you screaming your head off!"

Nonetheless, the small smile stayed on her face. She brought her phone back up and played around with the numbers and the keys on the keychain. She had one key that she liked to run the edges of her fingers over-a silver one she found in Sans' drawer. She felt bad about taking it initially, but he never asked for it back or even seemed to miss it.

Plus, she'd bruised her forehead when she fell down on his treadmill. So compensation was in order.

Not that she had gotten anything out of it, even after finding what it unlocke-

_ssssssSHZOOWM_

Frisk jerked to attention; she recognized that noise. Her heart began pounding in her chest and she ran down the way that the monster had gone, until she left the waterfalls of the dump behind. Flowey was waiting by the entrance for her, grinning big, and he followed behind while she kept running. "What? What's your rush? Huh? Huh?"

"Shh!"

She didn't stop running until she'd spotted him. He wasn't facing her, which she was grateful for-Dr. Gaster was instead lifting a pen into the air without touching it, both his hands and the pen glowing a faint blue. Frisk wondered if blue psychic powers were just a skeleton thing overall.

No. She wasn't wondering that. She wasn't wondering anything. There was a pile of dust near his feet, and she was focused on only that.

"You!" Startled, the skeleton turned his head her way and the pen dropped into his hand-falling through the hole in it immediately after. Frisk rubbed her face and marched to him, fear replaced with the burning in her stomach. "You killed him!"

" ~~YES.~~ "

She ran forward, startling him again, and tried to shove him with all her might. "He wasn't even attacking! He wasn't even attacking anyone and you killed him?!" Flowey's giggling in the background didn't help. "Why did you kill him!?"

Again glowing, the pen picked back up off the ground and floated into Dr. Gaster's pocket as he righted himself, scowling at the child. " ~~ _DON'T TOUCH ME._ IT ISN'T BECAUSE THEY'RE ATTACKING.~~ "

"I told you to stop doing that!" She ran forward again to shove him. "Now he's dead! And for wha-"

" ~~IT WAS FOR THIS.~~ "

Frisk's body glowed with the blue light and she shot into the air with a raise of Dr. Gaster's hand, mid-shove. She uttered a scream and flailed, arms windmilling uselessly. A fall like this would probably break something-an arm, a leg, or her neck if she landed the right way. She clasped her hands together and then, whimpering, wrapped her arms around her head as though it would protect it in the fall. She could hear her blood moving in her ears.

"Howdy!"

Dr. Gaster paused, looking down at the grey flower, who followed the greeting up with "It's me!". While Frisk yelped and babbled up above, he began to sign with two psychic hands, "I don't know you."

"Really? You don't recognize me?" Flowey's petals drooped, and his face warped to resemble that of a small goat's. "You don't recognize me?"

"No."

His goat face became a goat skull. "Wow, I guess you're not quite all together, eh?"

Looking back up at the whimpering Frisk, and then back down to the flower, Dr. Gaster signed, "Should I know you?"

The flower's head bobbed back and forth. "Thinking about it... I guess not! Don't mind me! Continue what you were doing!"

"I will."

But before he could wave his hand again, there was another voice. "You should have told us that earlier, Alphys!"

And then another, garbled and far away, sounding from the other end of the phone line. "I'm s-s-sorry... I-i-it's been a while..."

Seeing Undyne march from the dump, Flowey sank below the earth in an instant. Papyrus and Sans weren't far behind her. "NEAT! WE GET TO GO SEE SNOWDIN AGAIN! THINK OF ALL THE MEMORIES!"

"this is turning into a real fetch quest. hopefully we won't get tripped up by a broken bridge, amirite?"

Little by little, Frisk felt her body descending until she hit the ground again, the blue light that enveloped her disappearing. Undyne was still talking to Alphys over the phone, and while she couldn't hear Alphys' reply anymore Frisk thought that she could guess anyway. "Hey, I know that this is really important to you, but don't you think finding one tiny key in this place is too...? Well, what about we try after we rebuild the Core above ground? Wouldn't that work? We wouldn't even need a key then. Ugh! Okay, I'm not getting all the sciencey stuff! I just don't get why..."

" ~~ABOVE GROUND?~~ "

Frisk looked over at Dr. Gaster, who had gone very very still as Sans and Papyrus walked past. "maybe alphys is getting all keyyed up, too."

" _SANS YOU CAN'T USE THE SAME JOKE TWICE._ "

The child thought that she could see Sans' grin get even wider while Papyrus said this. "you're right. that's a lazy thing to duo." Even more so after the resultant screaming.

Then she looked back at Dr. Gaster, and his expression was hollow. No longer giving her any attention at all. Frisk didn't know whether it was something about her friends or something about what they said, but whatever it was seemed to have put him into shock. She stood up, brushing herself off. Now would be a good time to sneak out of range, wouldn't it? So she began to tiptoe her way back to the dump, biting on her lips and hoping that her heartbeat wasn't going to give her away.

" ~~WAIT.~~ "

Her body stopped moving. Frisk struggled in place, but all she achieved was slowing down when he dragged her back across the dust and dirt. "Cut it out!"

" ~~TELL ME-~~ " Dr. Gaster started to talk to the child directly before stopping, uttering a sigh. He instead looked around, brushing a shoe over the dirt as his eyes searched for cracks.

Frisk tilted her head to the side. "What? What is it?" No reply. "What are you doing?"

" ~~QUIET.~~ "

It took a minute. A minute that increased in awkwardness, although eventually as Frisk stopped struggling Dr. Gaster dropped his hold on her. But then, as he bent to more closely inspect the ground, Flowey came up out of it. "Hey! Did you miss me?" The little creature winked.

While Frisk watched, those two extra hands appeared and started to sign at the flower. Flowey's expression became cool and relaxed, waving back and forth as though affected by a breeze. "No problem!"

"What?"

Flowey waved a petal at Frisk. "He wants to talk to you about some stuff!"

Frisk gave Dr. Gaster a sideways glance. "...What kind of stuff?"

"I dunno." Flowey twisted on his stalk. "What kind of stuff?"

More signing.

"Stuff like what happened after he fell into the Core!"

The dust of the dead monster was still lying around them, albeit scattered. Frisk wiped her face again and stared at the ground. "...Well you can tell him that I-"

" ~~I ALREADY UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING YOU'RE SAYING.~~ "

She wiped her face again, looking back up and away. "...Okay."

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Hands


	9. Hands

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 34/40

G 10

* * *

I have failed.

Perhaps that isn't the right word to use.

A long time ago I had embarked on my project for the aim of freeing all monsters from the underground. The project was cut short when I fell into the Core... Something else that I had created to make life easier under the mountain. Initially, if I had any will at all, it was to bring myself back together so that I could return and... in so doing... resume my experiments. I only realized recently that this wasn't feasible anymore.

I conducted my interview session with the human at the docks nearer to Snowdin. Perhaps they wanted to stay close to their group, even if it was pointless to do so. It didn't matter to me.

Asking them why it was that all of the monsters here were gone, I learned something... immense. Even though by now I had already been expecting it.

The barrier was broken. Four years prior, as the human explained it, the spell was destroyed by the effort of every single monster in the kingdom. The plant monster between us began to brag that he was responsible, before the human shut him up by throwing something at him. They told me how most, although not all the monsters, have moved to a new city above ground, named "New New Home." ...I suppose, given that name, Asgore is still our king. Any monsters who did not move to the capital city nonetheless were living above the mountain now, in villages or small towns.

This should be good news to me. This is what I wanted to achieve myself, after all. And it was better than the alternative, seeing this entire kingdom depopulated because all of the monsters were exterminated. It is. It is good news. The war is over. Even if I never saw it. Even if, as I'm sure they do, monsters are facing their own difficulties in the world above with the likes of humans as neighbors. They at least have a chance to be happier than they ever would be sealed under the earth. It's the best possible outcome

...But...

Everything that I have done… Everyone that I have hurt... All of that was for nothing. It wasn't a result of my experiments that everyone has gone free, but because of chance. A random chance that a random human, and a seemingly random plant monster...

If I had only seen...

I could have prevented...

I realize that the human is staring at me awfully intensely. I tell them to stop, and sign the plant to repeat to them as much. The plant said to them instead, "he says he likes your eyes," and if he wasn't in another plane of reality altogether-

But the human isn't bothering me anymore. Good. It's hard enough to process this information without them proving an annoyance.

Although I wasn't fully myself at the time, something that I had to get used to here was knowing that the world continued to function without me. How does one get used to knowing that the world would be a better place if I hadn't existed at all?

No. There is no point to this self-pity party.

There are better things to do. I haven't learned everything there is to learn about my absence, and-

There are things that I have to know, before I use this SOUL to get out of here.

I had the plant monster ask them who my replacement was after I disappeared. They told me that it was Dr. Alphys; in addition, I learned that it was she who told the human to look for me. Apparently they had become acquainted during a time when the human fell into the underground. So it seems that not everybody forgot about me. ...It's only logical; as my successor, it would be necessary for her to build upon my research, which still exists even if I do not. So my memory, at least for her, would stay behind.

I was tempted to ask who else remembered me. If _they,_ perhaps-

Or if anyone else who worked closely with me. Asgore, or even the queen. The human looked embarrassed, and replied that they hadn't brought it up with them. I should have expected as much.

It's shameful, but now I can't help hesitating.

There's no harming in asking, anymore. Is there?

But before I can, the human starts speaking. They tell me that they also have questions they wish to have answered.

I can do that, too.

* * *

On the other hand, though, Frisk felt bad asking questions when Dr. Gaster seemed so disturbed. She could have asked a hard one, like "why the hell did you kill that monster" (and Toriel had said hell, so it was okay for her to say it) or something like "why is your EXP so impossibly high," but instead she asked the other question that was on the tip of her tongue, "How come your eye is always closed?"

She almost laughed when that at least changed his expression from disturbed to annoyed. He signed, and Flowey returned his reply, "He was just born that way. He's blind in that eye."

Born that way? How did monsters get born? Did skeletons come from eggs? Frisk chewed on the middle of her index finger in thought. "How did you fall into the Core?"

There was a long silence from Dr. Gaster; Frisk cringed, wondering if this was one of the hard questions she'd been trying to avoid. But he finally spoke up, or rather his hands did the talking for him, and she heard, "He doesn't remember that. ...He probably just wasn't being careful!"

Dr. Gaster scowled. " ~~I DOUBT THAT.~~ "

Encouraged, the child went on, "How do you know Doctor Alphys?"

"She was his lab assistant."

"Do you know Sans and Papyrus?"

"..."

"..."

"...Uhhhhhhh...Moving on?"

"Why am I in this place?"

"He says it's because you both collided too close to the center of the Core."

"Can you tell me how the Core works?"

Flowey flopped on the dock. "...This explanation is boring, ask a different question!"

"Do you know how to get back?"

"...He ...says ...no?"

"When I met you before, you vanished. Why is that?"

"He says if he recalls correctly, you startled him."

"Okay, then..." As filled with questions as she was before, Frisk was running out of ideas and Dr. Gaster was starting to get that disturbed look on his face again. she uncrossed her legs and pulled her knees up, before deciding that crossed legs felt better. "I can understand every other monster I've met, at least a little. Why can't I understand you?"

"I know the answer to that!" Flowey spoke first, before the skeleton had a chance to move. "You just can't understand his font."

"His font?"

"Yeah," saying so, Flowey winked and stuck his tongue out at her, as if it was obvious. "Didn't you notice? Pap speaks in Papyrus font. Sans is in, _well_. This guy speaks in Wingdings."

Of the explanations that she would have received, she somehow wasn't expecting that. And across from her, Dr. Gaster was faintly nodding. Frisk looked at both monsters with larger eyes. "He does?"

The flower head bobbed and nodded, rolling his eyes. "Sure. Why do you think that they call him Wing Ding Gaster?"

"Wingding Gaster?" Frisk looked back up at the skeleton scientist, whose mind was far away from the dock. "That's your name?"

Even distracted as he looked, his garbled sounding speech didn't miss a beat. " ~~Yes.~~ " Frisk could guess what that meant by now.

A grin played on her lips, even though she didn't want to be rude. She couldn't help it. _His first name is Wingding._ Or was it just Wing? So many puns, she could see Sans making so many jokes about this. _You should wear Wing-tipped shoes. What a Dingbat. What a-_

The grin fell. "...Wing Ding Gaster?"

" ~~Yes.~~ "

Taken as two separate words, it made W D G. ...W. D. G. She'd seen those initials before. When she was staying over with Sans and Papyrus, when she was younger than she was now. While they were asleep, she took a peek at their hands.

Drilled onto their hands were two plates with those initials, among other things engraved on them.

She looked upon the skeleton scientist sitting across from her, trying to figure it out in her head. But when she came close to the answer, it just stopped. It ran away. It was beyond her experience, broader than the average child as it was.

Eventually, he noticed her staring. " ~~ARE YOU DONE?~~ "

"He wants to know if you're done," came the secondary chiming-in. "Asking questions, probably."

"Y-yeah, s-sure," finding them chattering, Frisk clenched her teeth together. "Do you have any more?"

* * *

I would have thought the human, if directed to come find me, would know my full name already. Evidently Alphys didn't see it necessary to inform them. If that's the case, I can understand mild surprise. But the level of shock they are showing to a mere name is unwarranted. Oh, well. That isn't what I want to ask about.

It would be easier to ask if I did not have these lingering... concerns about the human's relationship to the two of them.

But I do, and so I find that cannot.

I asked about that "Undyne" character I had also seen with them. She seemed familiar, but only a little. The human answered that she was the former captain of the royal guard, the royal guard having been disbanded when the war ended. ...That was an _interesting_ decision for our king. But in any case, it explained how I didn't quite recognize her. She would have still been in training at the time that I fell.

The human told me that Undyne is also teaching Papyrus to cook, but neither of them are very good at it.

Since he is apparently responsible for that pie I ate before, I concur. He has no culinary instincts at all.

Next I inquired about the monsters that had followed me into the Core at one point or another. Asking this seemed to make the human sulk for a time, and they refused to answer. That is, if they knew the answer at all. But I believe they are still holding a grudge after seeing me attack my "followers," earlier. The concern that this human shows for monsters... even ones that are actively trying to kill them... is, I think, uncharacteristic of most in their race. Surely that is a result of their youth and naivete.

For the sake of having my answer, I did try to point out that there was no other option for me if I were to take back what these monsters had stolen. Once again, the plant monster completely misinterpreted my words to the human. They stopped responding to me entirely.

If all I am going to get out of my questioning now is pointless tantrums, I might as well finish them off.

...Still...

There are still... lingering concerns.

I try again, and ask them about the plant monster they seem to also be close with.

"His name is Flowey. He's a buttercup," is all I received in response.

Yes.

Now everything has been clarified.

This "Flowey" seemed to only find our exchanges funny. Again, I'm struck with something about him. Something which makes me... uneasy. Most monsters are unable to see those who have been tossed into an alternate plane of existence. Why would he be so different?

I'm prepared to ask the human again about him. But their attention has been taken by something behind me.

I turn around, as well.

It's-

No.

How did he-

How could he have-

* * *

"Sans!" Frisk had lost sight of everything else, even Flowey's terrified whimper and disappearance, and simply ran forward towards the skeleton. She didn't wait for him to say anything, she just tackled him in a hug, almost knocking Sans off his feet. He was here. Not just greyed and seeing her like Flowey, but in full color, he was here.

He clearly wasn't expecting the hug, though. "woah," Sans wobbled, but hugged Frisk back with one arm. "careful. if you knock me over i'm probably not getting up."

She let him go in the next moment, the smile fading as she then tilted her head quizzically. Sans tilted his head too, smiling as usual. "hm? how did i get here?" The child nodded, and he just shook his head. "i took a shortcut."

That reply just made her tap her foot impatiently, so he continued, the smile falling back into the usual grin. "i'm getting a feeling here that you, uh, didn't go back and look at the core after you fell in. i'm just guessing that's what you did, of course."

"?"

"yeah, 'cause i did. started feeling like i was missing something important." A long pause, as he looked at their dark grey surroundings. "...it's starting to get weird up there, even for hotland."

Unconsciously, Frisk covered her mouth with her hands. She hoped that she didn't break something.

But Sans just shrugged, "...hey, don't worry about it. i'm sure it's fine. anyway, who's this?"

Frisk turned and remembered that Dr. Gaster was still here, standing up now. "Oh, you don't know him?"

He looked right at the other skeleton. For a second, his expression didn't change. "should i?"

* * *

He does not recognize me.

Not for the moment. He is far too relaxed to be faking it for the sake of the human.

I am at a loss. Any move I make might shatter that ignorance, and then...

...No. He's looking at his hand, now. Even from here, I can see that the marker I put there so long ago is still intact.

I can see the light leaving his eyes. There is also more and more recognition there.

Ultimately, I only had a moment.

S-

_SssHOOWZM_

**\- 1 HP**

...

... ...

...Is that it-

 _SssHOOWZM_ _SssHOOWZM_ _SssHOOWZM_ _SssHOOWZM_ _SssHOOWZM_ _SssHOOWZM_ _SssHOOWZM_ _SssHOOWZM_ _SssHOOWZM_

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** sans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably clarify that this Frisk has only ever met the Goner Kid, not the other greyed out monsters. She's not one of those 100% Completionists :B


	10. sans

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 34/40

G 10

* * *

This was never supposed to-

Be within his capabilities-

Stop it-

Stop-

Stop it-

St-

Stop SHOOTING ME.

* * *

At first she couldn't move, just staring at the skeleton dog heads appearing one by one, faster than she could blink, all firing blasts that she had only seen in action a little while earlier. All of them firing at Dr. Gaster; the moment one disappeared, another took its place, a seemingly endless assault. She'd flinched and that was it as far as movement went, her eyes just as big as saucers.

But then there was another dark-eyed skeledog head, and it fired directly at Sans. The loud sound of the blast jolted her out of her confusion as Sans dodged to the side. "Stop!"

She honestly didn't know who to appeal to. Bones were flying and more of the dog heads were appearing each moment. Sans was giving much, much more than he was getting; although the blasts themselves didn't seem to pack much of a punch, there was no end to them. All the while, he was also dodging the bright beams of light and flying sharp bones from Dr. Gaster, moving swiftly in all directions. Frisk had already seen Dr. Gaster kill more than one monster with his attacks, and didn't doubt that although slower they were far more dangerous. ...Not that it even mattered how powerful they were, where Sans was concerned.

So when the next round of blasts finished she ran in the middle instead. "Stop it, please!"

Right as she spoke, a huge black-eyed skeledog head appeared to the side of her; Frisk tried to move, but couldn't. Her body was glowing, and so was her SOUL.

"Ah-!"

She then jerked suddenly to the opposite side, right off the dock, and just before the skeledog head fired she fell feet first into the water.

Back on the dock, a second blast just grazed Sans' coat. Despite being a skeleton, a bead of sweat appeared on his skull. " _geeze_ kid."

" ~~YOU'RE BEING FOOLISH.~~ "

Frisk resurfaced in a moment with a gasp, although with how dry she felt she wondered if she really had needed to hold her breath. Over her head were countless beams of light, the sound of their blasts pounding against her eardrums. Frisk grabbed hold of the dock and pulled herself partially out of the water, head turning back and forth as Gaster and Sans dodged each other's attacks. Well, Sans was doing the most dodging. Gaster didn't seem phased by all the times he'd been struck, though.

In between blasts she could hear them both talking to each other, too. She could hear them, but she couldn't understand a word of it. Sans was using the same garbled speech that Dr. Gaster used-how he did know how to do that?

It didn't look... quite safe to get back up.

Even so, she had to do something. If she waited it out, either Dr. Gaster or Sans was going to...

She pulled herself up on the docks, albeit keeping low. Right now she wasn't seen by either of them. They were too absorbed in fighting each other. In this context, one bone in his hand before he created a maelstrom of them, Sans' ordinary smile looked demonic. Then again, it wasn't on closer inspection his usual expression. Only one of his eyes was alit, flashing different colors. That was probably the creepiest part.

Before she started to think, again Frisk acted.

She took out her broken phone and threw it as hard as she could at Dr. Gaster, before he had a chance to retaliate. It struck him in the back of the head and she heard him growl as he straightened back up, turning in her direction. She gave him a sheepish expression. Then she ducked back to the ground and didn't look up, even when she heard more blasting. She didn't care if it was his or-

Well okay she did care a little.

She looked back up.

* * *

My body is... **\- 1 HP**

...Feeling weaker. **\- 1 HP**

Even standing might not be possible if this keeps up. Even though I'm not being hit at precise moments, I still feel as if I'm receiving blows. At first I could ignore it, but now it's starting to hinder me. **\- 1 HP**

1-S, Sans, whatever he's called now, still has yet to take any damage. His small size at first concealed his frustrating agility, which perhaps is a method of coping for his frailty in battle. The only time I came close was because of that human, providing a momentary distraction by their presence. If I want to survive this fight, I could try to replicate it, but something tells me not to take my eye off him unless absolutely necessary. **\- 1 HP**

Now if only I could follow my own advice. The human is also becoming a... very big nuisance. **\- 1 HP**

If I could get in one hit, then he and then they would no longer be a hindrance for me. **\- 1 HP**

Although it's getting hard... to move... **\- 1 HP**

Even though, with him mostly dodging me now, I haven't been hit for a while at this point... I'm still so weak... **\- 1 HP**

* * *

Sans' voice sounded out in that strange language, his grin huge, " ~~karma's a bitch isn't it?~~ "

There weren't quite so many bones and skull dogs flying around now, so Frisk got back to her feet. Although occasionally there would be a set of sharpened bones that flew along the ground, which Sans easily avoided, Dr. Gaster had all but given up attacking. He seemed too exhausted, no longer standing. Frisk could hear him speaking again, " ~~...EVEN IF YOU TAKE ALL YOUR AGGRESSION OUT ON ME...~~ "

 _Thwock!_ Bone struck bone.

" ~~THE HUMAN STILL NEEDS TO DIE. THEIR SOUL-~~ "

As Sans cut in with a harsh edge, Frisk saw another skeledog form, and then three, pointed at Dr. Gaster. " ~~keep talking. i'm still going to kill you, buddy.~~ "

"!" All three fired at once.

By the time that the blast cleared, though, Frisk was standing between the two of them.

"..." Sans stared at the child for a second, and then waved his hand.

Frisk's soul turned blue, and much to her surprise, she skidded several feet to the side. Gritting her teeth, she just darted back into place, only to yelp as she found herself dragged in the other direction. "Grr..." with a deep frown on her face, Frisk darted back again and planted her feet firmly down on the wooden floorboards.

More staring. "...hey, kiddo. you're kind of in my way."

Frisk nodded.

"that, uh, means that you should get out of it."

Now she shook her head.

There was an even longer pause. The flashing of Sans' eye dulled until it was just glowing blue. "...well this is awkward."

Frisk didn't know what to say at this point, so she said nothing.

"...look, kid, you don't know this guy like i do."

"..."

"maybe you haven't noticed, but, uh, it's a pretty high lv that he has. where do you think he got that?"

It didn't help that from behind, Dr. Gaster seemed to be making something like a bitter laugh. Frisk looked back at him and then shook her head harder at Sans, whose smile looked more and more pasted on. Frisk could see another bead of sweat on his face. "..."

"..."

"..."

Finally, and biting the inside of her cheek, the child said in a small voice, "Let's go on... a break..."

At first Sans' dark expression didn't change, although his voice did; he was just the littlest bit surprised, "a break? you mean right now?"

Taking a look back at Dr. Gaster, and then back at Sans, Frisk nodded. She jammed her hands into her pockets and brought out a handful of ketchup packets, which she held out in front of her like offerings. As she watched, Sans blinked and his eyes returned to normal, a light in each one and neither of them flashing blue and orange. "did you bring all those for me? that's sweet."

The child nodded again, a sheepish grin growing on her face. Sans then looked from Frisk to his fallen opponent behind her... For a second his face hardened. She could see it, and her smile waned. But looking back to her, shrugging his shoulders, he sighed. "...sure, kiddo. we can take a break. i've been working too hard, anyway."

Frisk took in a sharp breath that she'd been refusing to take. Sans picked one of the ketchup packets out of her hands and swallowed it whole, and as he grinned at her she put the rest back in her pockets for the time being. "although there isn't a grillby's here anymore...eh. i know where we can go."

" ~~A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF POWER AND STABILITY IS NEEDED TO LEAVE THIS PLANE. THE HUMAN SOUL-~~ " Sans' expression changed back to a much less kinder one as from behind Dr. Gaster was starting to speak again, getting upright. He cut himself off, and only said with a dark expression, " ~~I KNOW THAT YOU ARE SMART ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THIS.~~ "

Before Frisk could take another breath, Sans had grabbed her hand in his, still glaring. "i know a shortcut."

* * *

Of everything else that I've had to take today, this is perhaps the worst feeling.

My strength is at least returning, gradually. Whatever it is that he did to me, it's wearing off now. ...Although it has come too late for me to do anything about it. He just left, suddenly, with the human. As if I wasn't worth bothering with.

It is difficult for me to gauge his actions in this... All I have are my old notes and memories of 1-S. But clearly quite a lot of time has passed since we last saw each other. With so little to go on, I don't really know if he intends to actually save the human... or if he's saving the human's SOUL for himself. Given their interaction with each other, I suspect that it's the former, but he has always been clever in these ways.

...Either way, if I am to get out of this place I now have a very stubborn obstacle in my way.

Alone I have to also wonder... Even... if I do escape, what would there be for me in the true reality? If the human's testimony is all true, I've been replaced and the monsters are free now. I might not even be needed anymore. If that's the case, then my escape would be all for nothing.

Like my project was.

No, I...

...

I need to...

...My abilities have all returned, but now I suspect that I am not completely whole yet. Putting everything else aside, maybe it would be prudent to seek out the rest of... myself.

* * *

Snowdin was looking a little sad these days. Without all the monsters around, the magic that had kept the snow plentiful and frozen was gone, and as a result that same snow was melting. Frost and cold was still present everywhere, but then this was a cold part of the mountain. Frisk had been particularly upset when coming back two years ago to find the snowman she'd befriended once melting. He was nothing more than an icy cold puddle now.

She still had that piece of him in her freezer.

Even though most of Snowdin was melting, and most of the town was moved elsewhere, Sans' sentry station was still here. Everyone was responsible for moving their things up to the surface, so Frisk could understand why that was. It at least made for a good table. She used a big rock to sit across from Sans as he ate ketchup packets. By contrast the only thing that Frisk had to eat was the last piece of spaghetti pie she was saving. She wasn't hungry, but she took it out anyway and poked at it.

"you okay, kid?"

She looked back up, lifting her head from her arms and the sentry station counter. There were a lot of things that she wanted to say. She had never known that Sans could fight like that. She had never known that he _would_ fight like that, against anyone. Not least of which because it was a real consistent effort on his part. And because he could have been killed, or could have killed. But what most bugged her about it all was the reason why.

Sans shrugged at her troubled look, "i dunno what you're expecting me to say here, but..."

"Why didn't you tell me you knew Dr. Gaster?"

There was a long second where he just looked back down at the pile of ketchup packets and slowly ate another one. "until just now, i forgot."

She lowered her head back on the table. Right now her brown eyes were open much larger than usual and Sans' expression turned... pained. "look, frisk... i know what alphys told you, but i don't, uh, think it's a very good idea to bring this guy back. ...not least of which is because, uh, i don't think you could understand him," he paused, during which Frisk shook her head, "but he wants to kill you."

The child didn't miss a beat, "But so did a lot of people I met down here. I never hurt them back, though."

There was a sigh. "kid, this guy is different."

"How?" Looking back up, as the skeleton across from her delayed his answer she tilted her head one way and then the other. "...You attacked first. And you tried to kill-"

" **Yeah, I did**." Startled by his sudden tone, Frisk became ramrod straight on the rock being used for a chair. Sans' eyes narrowed. "I took preemptive measures to stop someone from attacking both of us. Do you think that's wrong?"

The child blinked. "Um..." it would help if she knew what preemptive meant. She grimaced, murmuring, "I don't know."

"And what if because you spared him, he goes on to kill us or someone else? What are you going to do about that?"

Frisk thought of the monsters whose dust would be littering this grey world forever. She shook her head, "I don't know. ...I wouldn't kill him."

There was no light in his eyes. "Then how will you stop him from hurting someone again?"

Frisk put her head down on the table. "I don't know!"

The child covered her head with her arms. She had never seen Sans mad before.

After a while, she heard a sigh. "...i know these are hard questions, but uh, don't you think you should at least be thinking about it?" But there was no reply from the child, who secretly was starting to grow cold from the frozen wood pressed against her face.

...She thought that she was supposed to give mercy to everyone. Didn't he say something like to her years ago, that hurting people brought EXP and LOVE and...? And now he was trying to tell her it was a good thing?

But then she heard another sigh, "...ah, nevermind. you know how it is, when some people just bring out the worst in you."

Frisk raised her head a tiny bit, peeking out from the folds of her striped sweater. "What did he do that was so bad?"

Instead of answering at first, he ate a few more ketchup packets. Frisk poked at her pie again, scratched at some of the ice on the sentry table, and waited patiently. Finally, he drew his right hand out of his pocket. "it's not really a story you tell kids. but, i'll give you a hint, okay?" Just like before, she saw the plate that was secured to his hand with screws, inscribed with Dr. Gaster's initials. "he put this on me, a long time ago."

As Frisk inspected the plate more closely, he continued talking, "it's like branding cattle. uh, or signing your own artwork. only artwork doesn't feel anything." The child looked up. With that same pained expression, he drew his hand back. "the one papyrus is wearing? he put that on him, too."

Dizzily, the child nibbled on the piece of pie beside her. She thought back to what she knew about those two. She had been told once that they appeared in Snowdin out of nowhere, no other family and no apparent past. When she'd asked, they never told her what that past was. It didn't occur to her that it was because they really couldn't remember. And that past was connected to Dr. Gaster. "...Is he your... dad?" _A dad that labels his children._

"my _dad_ -?" Another pause from Sans, where the light in his eyes disappeared. Frisk almost thought she was going to make him mad again, but finally he said, blinking, "...uh, something like that. i got dad problems, kid." Frisk's confusion was evident, but he wasn't offering any more explanation. "to be honest, i'm not looking forward to papyrus getting those memories back too."

Once again the child was startled. _Papyrus is coming here?_

"since he and undyne were following me, they might be in this place already," he explained, as if reading her thoughts. "we should probably go meet them, huh? ...before he does."

She noticed that, at some point, he had finished off all the ketchup. Putting the pie back in her pocket, Frisk nodded. She took Sans' hand, and then it was off to Hotland. If they had stopped at the docks along the way, they might have noticed that Dr. Gaster was already gone.

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** Cellphone App


	11. Cellphone App

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 36/40

G 10

* * *

When Sans said that Hotland was getting weird, Frisk didn't know what to expect. But she thought at first it would actually be a good thing, what she saw: in patches there was color, and stepping in those patches there was heat. It was reality, she knew it. There were _patches of reality_ all around her, and it was a wonderful feeling to be back in it after being outside of it for so long. The first time she saw it, she'd run right into the fuzzy, buzzing patch and spun around in circles with a smile.

It was great to feel heat. It was great to feel something.

Sans smiled at her from outside the patch. "careful, kid. it might look pretty but that's how i got trapped in here."

Frisk stopped, although she didn't step out just yet. "You didn't jump in the Core?"

he laughed, "jump in the...? nah, that'd probably kill me or somethin'. is that what you did?" Seeing Frisk turn red and shake her head hard, he chuckled. "well what happened was i stepped into a patch like this, and when i interacted with things a bit i felt something change. so now i'm here." Looking around, he added," there's a couple more of these patches now than there were before."

"Can we get back with them?"

He shrugged, "i dunno kid, they seem to be only one-way."

Frisk nodded, finally stepping out and shuddering when the life disappeared from her surroundings. The moment she'd walked out of the threshhold she heard more strange buzzing and static. "That sucks. So we're still stuck here?"

"i guess for now," Sans shrugged. When Frisk have him an unhappy grimace, he winked lazily and said, "heyy, don't worry about it. i'm sure you'll think of somethin', kid."

The child went back to normal at that, that is having a little smile. "Where do you think Papyrus and Undyne are going to come in?"

He started to walk down the pathway towards the stairs to the old hotel, with the child quickly following behind him. "i have no idea. i'm just guessing that it will be somewhere around the hotel, since that's where i went."

With no other ideas, Frisk decided that was as good a place to wait by as any. So she agreed without a word. But as she reached the first step to the hotel, the girl heard a buzzing behind her, and then she could swear that there was also talking. "Uh?" When she turned around, she didn't see anyone. But the talking was very distant, only audible because of how loud it was.

"!" Realizing, she caught Sans' sleeve and tugged before he could leave her behind.

"hm?"

Frisk ran from the steps in the direction of the voice, "Papyrus!"

" _oh._ " Now Sans was running after her too - which was a good thing, because Frisk didn't stop running until she'd reached the ladder and she would have disappeared from sight in just a few moments. Gripping the ladder, sleeves pulled over her hands, she looked to the bottom and then slid down with a squeal and a scraping, squeaking sound. It took far less time to go down ladders in this place than it took to go up them. Even if she had to pay attention and catch her foot on one of the buttom rungs before she hit the ground.

This time she didn't quite execute it perfectly, and nearly jolted off of the walkway. Luckily, she didn't seem to need to go any further. Stepping off the ladder, she could hear much better - and then see - Papyrus and Undyne walking in her direction. Not missing a beat, she started to run towards them too with a cry. At first he hadn't noticed, continuing on speaking, "WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND IS HOW HE GOT SO FAR AHEAD WHEN-" but Undyne saw Frisk first, and she shoved the skeleton's shoulder. "HUH?"

"Look!"

Papyrus saw her just in time to catch Frisk when she went to tackle him in a hug, "OH! HUMAN! THERE YOU ARE!" And far behind her, with Papyrus holding her in his arms, even Frisk could hear Sans wheezing. "BROTHER! YOU FOUND THE HUMAN!"

"yeeep," he said, still struggling to catch his breath. "it wasn't easy, they went wandering around everywhere..."

Even while she was being talked about, Frisk kept on hugging Papyrus until he put her down himself, patting her on the head like a puppy.

... She knew it wasn't the best thing for him to be here, but she still was just so happy to see him, and remembering her, that for that time she'd forgotten what Sans said completely. And of course, then the child tackled Undyne, who almost fell over when wearing her heavy armor. "Woah! Guess you didn't like being here by yourself, huh!" She laughed, picking her up.

"ABOUT THAT..." Frisk turned as best she could in Undyne's arms towards, Papyrus, who was checking on the exhausted Sans. "WHERE IS THIS PLACE EXACTLY?"

"It's, um." Frisk looked over at Sans, who shrugged. "Um. Some kind of alternate world, I guess."

"WOWIE!" Papyrus spun around at his surroundings in wonderment, "I'VE NEVER SEEN AN ALTERNATE WORLD BEFORE! IT'S VERY... ... ..." he paused and looked around with a squint, gloved hand on his chin. "... BLANK AND DEPRESSING. ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN?"

Frisk nodded. And then she shoved her hands in her pockets. "I wanted to call you guys, but I broke my phone."

"YOU BROKE YOUR PHONE? NOT TO WORRY, HUMAN." Frisk had barely looked up before she found a small, red-colored, magic cellphone being put in front of her face. "YOU CAN TAKE MINE."

"R-really?"

"OF COURSE!" As Frisk smiled wide and flipped the phone open Papyrus paused again, squinting as he remembered. "ACTUALLY, I WAS MEANING TO TRADE WITH YOU ANYWAY."

This made the child hesitate on the lock screen of Papyrus in his date outfit. "You were? Why?"

"Alphys installed some kind of thing she wanted you to have for when we found her scientist friend," Undyne said. Sans, from where he was standing, flinched. Frisk, seeing that, flinched as well, but it seemed that Papyrus and Undyne didn't notice. "Some kind of tr-"

"UNDYNE I WANTED TO TELL THEM THAT PART!" Papyrus went to Frisk's side and started to slide through the phone for her. "ALPHYS INSTALLED A REALLY COOL APP ON MY CELLPHONE!"

She was so busy glancing back to Sans occasionally she didn't realize when Papyrus already had the app open, taking the phone from her again with a big smile on his face. "LET ME SHOW YOU, HUMAN!"

There was a beep as he turned it on, making a blank orange screen on the phone. Then, causing Frisk to jerk upright again, Papyrus started to talk in a mode of speech she found very familiar.

The phone crackled for a moment, and then out of it came a very familiar voice, " _CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME? ISN'T THIS COOL?!_ "

Frisk's eyes grew wide and she let out a huge gasp. It was a-!

"THAT'S RIGHT! IT IS A WINGDING TRANSLATOR! ALPHYS SAID IT WOULD BE REALLY USEFUL!"

"S-say-!" Frisk began to bounce up and down before she even realized it, "Say something else!"

"SOMETHING ELSE? OKAY!" Again, he spoke in that strange voice.

This time the phone didn't miss a beat, and Papyrus' voice came out the other end with just a little of the volume reduced, " _IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MASTER OF TONGUES!_ "

"AaaAAAAAH!" Frisk bounced higher, her smile wide, and she then ran over to Sans.

Sans, who was staring off at some patch of wall without quite facing the others, having caught his breath for now. He snapped back to attention when Frisk shoved the phone in his face. "uh-? ...what? what is it, kid?"

"SANS SAY SOMETHING INTO THE PHONE!"

"...something into the phone?"

The phone only crackled a little. Papyrus stomped his foot, "NO! NO! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"

Frisk held the phone out to him, the app open, although she lowered it just a little. Instead of the big smile she wore seconds before, she had begun to chew her lip as she stared. His shoulders relaxing, Sans took the phone out of her hand, "oh, i get it." After he had spoken Sans' voice, as repeated back by the phone, was so quiet that the child almost didn't hear it. " _something into the phone._ "

"SANS YOU HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING COOLER THAN THAT!" They both could hear Papyrus shouting from behind. Frisk anxiously smiled at Sans as he gave her the phone back. Only when he widened his own smile back at her did she release a relieved sigh, clutching the phone and bouncing while he talked again. Soon enough, it became, " _something cooler than that._ "

"SANS TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY! OKAY FINE, BRING THE PHONE BACK TO ME, HUMAN!"

Frisk bounced her way back to Papyrus with a squeal. Undyne smirked, "This place is pretty creepy, but you seem to be getting along okay in it huh?"

"This! Is! Great!" Was all that the girl said as Papyrus continued to talk wingdings into the translator. "It works so well!"

"OF COURSE IT DOES!" Papyrus said proudly. "ALL THE APPS ON MY PHONE ARE PERFECT!" Nevermind that it was Alphys who had installed it in the first place. "AND THAT INCLUDES ANY THAT WILL AID US IN OUR MISSION TO FIND DR. GA-"

He stopped.

The sudden silence made everyone look up. Frisk and Sans, in particular, did this each with twisted expressions on their faces. Papyrus looked like he was frozen in mid-speech before he closed his mouth. He began turning his lead left and right, very silent, rubbing his hands together. No. Rubbing his right hand.

"Pap?" Undyne walked over and waved a hand in his face. "You alright?"

"I...I..." Papyrus had begun to tremble.

"bro, i'm right here." Sans had closed the distance between himself and his brother before Frisk had even noticed him move. His eye was glowing bright blue, although not in the way she had seen happen before. Her gut began to turn as she looked at them both, and she put the phone deep into her pocket.

She had never seen Papyrus look this afraid. To be honest, she hadn't thought that he _could_ look this afraid.

" _Oh my god..._ " his voice was uncharacteristically-quiet. " _Oh my god, he's here isn't he? He's here somewhere-_ "

Sans' voice was getting a little louder. "y-yeah, he is, but it's gonna be fine-"

"He is!? He's here!? Where!?"

"What are you talking about?" Undyne's eyes met with Frisk's, and the child took a step back from her. She mouthed, 'Are they talking about Dr. Gaster?'

Chewing on her lower lip, clutching her locket hard, Frisk nodded.

More mouthing, 'Uh what's going on?'

Frisk didn't reply that time. She walked back up to Papyrus, feeling sick.

Sans was holding on to his hands, "just breathe, okay? it's gonna be fine, look, we're all older now, he's not gonna-"

She spoke very quietly, "Papyrus, are you okay...?"

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Hearing him return to his normal volume made Frisk back up quickly, and unconscious of her Papyrus took hold of Sans' jacket, "SANS! TAKE US BACK!"

"uh-" More sweat. "-i would if i could, bro-"

"N-nyeh-!" Releasing his brother the next instant, Papyrus began to breathe. Not in a normal way, the way that Frisk breathed, but in a very sudden, halting, jerking way. The kind of breathing someone did if they didn't have any oxygen. "HAVE TO...GET OUT...!"

"-we're going to get out, okay? we're gonna get out soon, i promise, you're not even gonna see him-"

"Woah, dude, drink some water and chill!" Undyne held out a water bottle, the likes that Frisk had often seen her carrying to hot places nowadays, but Papyrus wasn't even looking at her. He wasn't looking at anyone.

What was he seeing?

What was he remembering?

The skeleton kept trying to breathe in that raspy version of breathing, not responding to any of them anymore. Frisk scrambled back to him, unsure how to act but trying nonetheless.

_You hug Papyrus._

_It doesn't seem to make him feel better._

The only one still talking was Sans, his voice steady even while beads of sweat were going down his skull. "hey, it's okay bro', c'mon. look at me pap, we're gonna leave real soon okay? we don't have to go looking for that guy, it's all gonna be okay, c'mon..."

These noises echoed across the discolored, silent Hotland until fading away in the distance.

* * *

Quite a lot of sound coming from above me. I have my suspicions of who, precisely, is making the racket. But only because there are no other living things in this plane of reality, my mad "followers" of mine aside.

Speaking of which, I have yet to see any more. I wonder briefly if the shouting I hear is because of the human stumbling onto and, foolishly, rescuing another one, but on further listens it doesn't _sound_ like a fight. There aren't enough blasts from Subject 1. Sans. His emitters give him a primary advantage in any fight against any other monster.

This makes me glad that he probably isn't fighting one. After all, if he found my piece before I did, he could theoretically keep it for himself.

No, it's not him who's making that noise. It doesn't sound like the human either.

Who... is that?

It's very loud, very loud indeed. And it rises and falls, an inhuman wailing.

I recognize the voice, now, but I can't make out the words. Perhaps... the words don't really matter when the meaning itself is clear. I can recognize the tones of hysteria.

First one, and then the other. They come, and then they remember. They're appearing like demons waiting to remind me of the things that I've done, just when I manage to get my consciousness back. And unlike Subject 1, who displayed quite an understandable aggression, Subject 2 is panic- displaying a _fear-based_ reaction instead. Whether it's because of finding himself in this dead world, or perhaps because of ...remembering me, who dwells inside it, _it's not important._

...It's...

...noisy, and interrupting my concentration on the task at hand, so I'd like for it to stop. But I don't know what to do about it. I certainly can't approach them, not like this, not when they remember everything and certainly not when I'm still healing. But if they didn't remember...? No, that's a pointless speculation. It's impossible to make them forget except by removing me from their reality. Which is, in any case, beyond my means.

The task at hand... the task at hand... what was I doing again? That's right, studying the bright spots I've been finding in Hotland. They were not here when last I was, and they certainly were not here when I was scattered across multiple planes. At least, I do not remember them being so. So since that's the case, something is terribly wrong for them to start cropping out now.

On the one hand, it's a _very_ good feeling for me to have at least a trace of the true reality back, even if it's just small spot where this reality has begun interceding into the old one. On the other hand, this means that in that true reality, where everyone else resides, there are growing spots filled with this dead place instead.

How could this have happened? Is it my fault? Perhaps getting four new inhabitants was too much for this world to take. Then, would our return set it back to normal? Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to this question beyond a "maybe."

I will need to apply more research to this problem.

And that means... for the moment, ignoring the _distractions_ above this walkway.

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** In True Lab


	12. In True Lab

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

She offered to give him his phone back, but Papyrus would have none of it.

"I'M FINE, HUMAN... AND YOU NEED IT MORE THAN I DO!" He'd gotten his breathing under control, and didn't seem to be as upset as before, but Frisk could tell Papyrus had changed. In some way, it was the same as how Sans had changed. "IT'S... EMBARRASSING, REALLY. THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOES NOT GET SCARED!"

She curled up next to him on the edge of the walkway, holding her knees close to her face. "It's okay, you know, I get scared too."

"O-OF COURSE _YOU_ DO, HUMAN! BUT... UH..." the child frowned as Papyrus searched for words, feigning a sheepish smile, "SOMEONE AS GREAT AS I... CAN HANDLE ANY OBSTACLE IN MY WAY! SO THERE IS NO NEED FOR ME TO BE SCARED!"

She scooted closer to him. "But he's a scary guy so it's okay to be scared of him..."

Papyrus folded his arms, trying not to tremble. "NO! HE IS... NOT THAT SCARY." But then his expression fell, and he said a smidgen quieter, "EVEN SO, WE DON'T HAVE TO GO LOOKING FOR HIM, RIGHT?"

This was a question that Frisk didn't know how to answer. But if she didn't answer, she had a feeling Papyrus might take that for an answer. "Just...what are we going to tell Alphys?"

There was a long silence for a minute. Frisk looked down at her feet, which she turned in and out, until finally she heard Papyrus say, "MAYBE WE CAN TELL HER... ... ...THAT IT WAS A BAD IDEA?" He shifted uncomfortably, rubbing the handplate covered over by his glove. "OR. SHE CAN HAVE SOMEONE ELSE DO IT?"

Frisk scratched the back of her head, "I guess, when we get back, we can suggest some other people..." Although as the words left her mouth, it still left an upset feeling in her stomach. She quickly turned her head away as if her attention was caught by something.

But the high volume of Papyrus' voice made her turn right back again. "YES. ...HUMAN, WHEN DO YOU THINK WE'LL BE ABLE TO LEAVE?"

"Oh," wetting her lips, Frisk played with her sleeves and grinned big. "I'm really sure it'll be soon!"

* * *

But they weren't able to leave soon. In fact, the hours that they were lingering in the colorless reality turned into a day. Eventually Undyne decided that they would spend the next wandering around a little of Waterfall, the former guard captain struggling to feel the water on her skin and growing irritated when that failed. They went back to Snowdin, too, and some of the other caverns that used to make up the Capital of New Home, but they could find no more patches of true reality there and there was nothing of interest except the grey animals that ignored them.

None of them grew any hungrier or thirstier, but that only made it difficult to tell how much time was passing.

Everywhere they went, Undyne or Frisk went first, as if by an unspoken agreement with each other. If they were going to encounter Dr. Gaster, they would rather it was one of them and not the two brothers who seemed unable to consider meeting him without their moods changing radically. Frisk was grateful that Sans and Papyrus were more occupied with staying with each other to notice them taking this precaution. They were talking a lot as they stayed back in their travels through the caverns

By the time another day, or perhaps two, passed, they all agreed to stay for the most part in Hotland where the patches of true reality were. Those patches seemed to be growing, albeit very very slowly. Since they had a bit of reality in them, they were probably their best bet for finding a way home. That was what they figured, although there wasn't much to do with them except for step in and enjoy the reality.

Everyone was a little anxious about investigating the Core, given precedent. Frisk was the only one who felt it worth the risk, as a human, and as one nervous about how long they were starting to stay there. Even then, she went to investigate when the others had gone to sleep for the... ... probably night.

So she was alone when she walked to that building, on the lookout for more patches of reality. She wondered if she would even be able to use the elevator, though. Was it still there?

When she got to the entrance, she could see someone else a little farther inside. "Ah-!"

At her gasp, he turned with a not-too-startled expression. Since there was no one else around, it was obviously Dr. Gaster. Biting her lip, Frisk drew out her phone and started sliding for the app on the touch screen.

Initially he didn't say anything to her, despite her clear anxiety. He had in his hands a pen and piece of paper, which he had previously been writing on by using the wall for a flat surface; now, finishing his thought, he folded it back up and put it in his pocket. Then Dr. Gaster approached the child at a slow pace, cautious.

Frisk looked up when he was a foot away from her, and she gave him a wavering smile. "...H-hi again..."

Now that changed his expression, his eyebrows raising in bewilderment. He spoke, using his strange font. The phone then began to crackle and out came, in a clear and strong voice, " _What are you doing here alone?_ " Now that, hearing his own translated speech coming out of the phone, made him even more surprised.

Frisk had begun to speak with a huge, genuine grin on her face, "Wow your voice is really-" only for him to close the distance between them and snatch the phone out of her hands. "Um-!"

" _What is this?_ " His open eye was wide as he spoke into the phone, hearing it translated with a second delay on the other end. " _Hello? Hello? Testing... The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog... Is that really what I sound like...?_ " He then closed the translator window and began to scroll through the rest of it. " _What an unusual device..._ "

"It's a cellphone," Frisk said.

Remembering that the human was still there, he looked up and frowned. " _I know what a cellphone is._ " Albeit he hadn't seen one of this make before. As the child reached to take the phone back, he instinctively held it closer and out of her timid reach. " _Where did you get this?_ "

Frisk rocked backwards on her heels, clutching her hands behind her back. "It-it's Papyrus's. He's letting me borrow it."

" _Not the phone._ " Dr. Gaster's frown deepened into a scowl. Looking through it only a little, he could tell who it belonged to. Soon enough he just had the translating app open. " _I mean **this**._ "

"Oh," Frisk nodded, "Dr. Alphys made that."

She made another reach for it, and this time was able to discreetly pull it away from his bony fingers and holey hands. Dr. Gaster was looking down and squinting, murmuring, " _Alphys...? She always was very good with electronics._ "

"I like your voice."

He looked back over at her. " _I beg your pardon?_ "

"...It sounds nice..." Not like the voice of a murderer, or a father who brands his sons. Frisk's own voice got progressively quieter and she looked behind her. "Um, what are you doing here?"

Dr. Gaster's hands went into his labcoat pockets. He looked more bored, now, than anything. " _I asked you that first._ "

Well, he did do that. The child looked behind her again. No sign of Sans, Papyrus, or Undyne. She couldn't help but remember what Sans had told her back in Snowdin. _He wants to kill you..._ But she put on a smile when she turned back to him again. "I want to help, so I thought to look into the inner Core."

" _I've already checked the Core. A casual observer's study of it would be of no use._ "

Stopped cold, Frisk's hand fumbled for her locket again. So, that was another dead end... "Ohhhhh. Hmm."

In a lower voice, he asked with that same cold and bored expression, " _Where are your friends?_ " The child didn't respond at first, gaze moving up and down suspiciously as though expecting him to draw a knife from that pocket. That was ridiculous, of course. He didn't need a knife to do damage to her. She pointed over behind herself, at the old structure of the hotel. "We're all sleeping just back there."

" _I see._ "

"Where are you sleeping?"

" _I am not._ "

Frisk's smile got bigger, and she stood a step backwards. Her heart was beating so hard, she didn't dare release her hold on the locket or the phone. "Don't exhaust yourself, okay? Are you feeling better?"

Finally, she heard him exhale a little at this. " _...Yes. I have recovered._ "

So the child gave him a big smile, "That's good." Before there could even be an awkward silence, she went on in a quiet voice, "...I know Sans has reasons. E-even if he won't tell me what they are. B-but I've never seen him act like that, s-so... it's..."

Dr. Gaster tilted his head one way. " _... You... intervened because you don't approve?_ "

Frisk nodded, her smile falling. Well, something like that. "I don't approve. Of people. Killing people."

He exhaled again. " _...Then I am fortunate this policy also applied to me._ " And then, brusquely, he added, " _But I am busy trying to look for exits. If you're going to return to your friends, do it now._ "

Smiling again, and again briefly nodding, Frisk turned and gratefully ran across the walkway.

Watching her leave, Dr. Gaster shook his head and went back inside with a growing scowl on his face.

* * *

I can't tell if the human lacks in intelligence, or if their naivete is a result of their youth.

Although faced with warning signs on at least three counts - the deaths of my "followers", their friends' reactions, and my own high LV - they continue to treat me as though I am not, in fact, a threat. Not as though I desire for them or their friends to see me as such, necessarily... it is best to continue my research and search for my pieces unhindered. But I would have expected more distrust, and from a _human_ of all things, than this.

In fairness, it seemed to be only a one-time meeting on their part. I have not been visited in the Core again.

Now that I have left it behind, I can see them - both the human and their companions - making excursions around Hotland. Like me, they seem to seek a way out of this world but have no materials or even prior experience to work with. To that end, they are merely conducting rudimentary magical tests with the spots of reality they come in contact with around the hotel. Their constant presence makes it difficult for me to make my way back to the site of my laboratory, where I could at least have access to my notes and equipment. I'm not especially eager to get into a fight with-

With three capable monsters at once.

The human suffers from a mild form of insomnia, invalidating the option of sneaking past while their group is asleep. At certain points, when they are awake and not too close to their "friends," I am able to study them for a little while. Occasionally, I am able to even see interactions between them and the other members of the group, although during these times I need to be especially careful that I am not caught.

Contrary to my earlier assessments, the human usually tries to avoid verbal conversation when they can help it, communicating with gestures, facial expressions, and noises instead. That doesn't stop conversation from occurring between themselves and others, but the majority of it seems to be one-sided. I spent approximately half an hour observing as they played the audience for jokes from Subject 1 before moving on. Subject 1 appears overly fond of making terrible jokes. I don't know where this immature behavior came from, as it doesn't seem shared or even tolerated by Subject 2.

Aside from conversation, they are behaviorally identical to monster children, which I suppose can be expected. When not entertaining themselves with games on the phone, they follow the others around constantly, not quite begging for attention but always looking to receive it. For most of the time I've been able to see them, they seem to be determined to learn how to sign after their first encounter with me. They've gone through asking the others for help, but each one appears to have failed somehow.

They imitate some of the same patterns of behavior as the adults around them, as well; for instance, I have seen them several times smiling hugely in the same way as that former captain of the royal guard, although their teeth are not big enough for such mimicry. When not in use, they hide their hands in a myriad of ways, perhaps because of how often those two do it. I wonder if their quiet mumbling is also their way of mimicking Subject 1.

That's not important. I don't know why the human interests me. Perhaps I simply grow frustrated with throwing my efforts towards a problem that refuses to reveal the answer. And so with no other object of study, I've begun turning my attention to them. Thinking about it, they are, after all, the first human that I have seen for centuries. And, eventually, I may require them to bring one of my "followers" out of one plane of reality into this one. So.. it is best that I at least keep an eye on them, as it were.

My study has its consequences, however. It's during one of these occasions, when the human is suffering from their insomnia again, that I am spotted.

As a result, they've approached me again.

This time, I am told not to come too close, and in this I learn that this was not, in fact, the first time the human has spotted me. But it is the first time I was given a warning, weak as it is coming from the mouth of this child. As expected, my presence would be... upsetting... to my former subjects if anyone else were to spot me.

I in turn inform them that I would not be remaining here if I could reach my lab.

They tell me that the laboratory here was dismantled. Of course, I already know that part - but True Lab is not so easily dismantled. Not underground, and not filled with so much delicate equipment as it is. So they ask me what I want in True Lab. I see no reason to lie. That lab is probably the only place with technology left in this evacuated kingdom.

Evidently, they have been there.

But they don't seem interested in aiding me down to that level of Hotland. I only spoke to them for a moment before they returned to the inside of the Hotel, and in quite a hurry at that.

...What I believe to be a day later...

The came out unprompted, and of their own will. They gave me a strange request. They asked if I could teach them sign language, evidently unable to give up on this aspiration.

I asked them why, when they already had a means of understanding me. They looked at me oddly, then, and said they would be giving "Papyrus" his phone back eventually. I suppose I can't argue with that. But when I asked why they could not have someone else teach them, they replied that while "Papyrus" and Undyne were incapable of teaching it, they suspected that "Sans" was teaching them curse words.

I told them to sign what they had learned and the human was both correct and incorrect. While Sans had not been teaching them curse words, he had taught them a very _specific_ curse. Using the child as a medium for his sense of humor does seem characteristic of him. Whatever the case, there is little point to me teaching this human anything, so I declined and they left.

But while their friends were sleeping, they came yet again.

They asked me why, if I desired to reach True Lab, I hadn't gone yet.

Hmm. Evidently, they do not intend to stop me, then.

That's fine. Locating the entrance in that rubble should be simple enough, as long as I am allowed to reach the site. If these are their intentions, I will finally go and see what resources I can find in my old workplace. The best case scenario being that I might even find one of my pieces in True Lab, in a place that is so undeniably familiar.

When I am ready, I will come back.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** This is Just Getting Harder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine Dr. Gaster in my head as sounding the most like Mellow Fellow on Youtube, who's done a couple fantastic dubs of Zarla's Handplates AU comics.


	13. This is Just Getting Harder

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

Results for this excursion proved positive. When I came into True Lab, I found that it was completely furnished, as if no evacuation had taken place at all. That didn't mean, of course, that it was untouched.

Alphys had replaced me as the Royal Scientist. That meant that she was given free reign to re-purpose the labs as she saw fit. I don't recognize most of what was placed down here, although some of the work and maintenance rooms are at least the same. The biggest change, actually, is the huge sick-room I found not far from the elevator, filled with beds. Although this spot feels familiar to me, I know that I never saw it arranged this way before my incident with the Core. Perhaps she was housing multiple patients, for some study or otherwise... I could look through Alphys' notes later, provided that she didn't wipe them when she left the underground, and see what she participated in. I am curious.

But I have something else I want to see - no, that I need to see - even more.

Past that sick room, there is a hallway that is filled with rotten flowers. The flowers are new, although perhaps they were for Asgore's benefit. I do recall Alphys had some kind of crush on him. Regardless; on the opposite wall from the flowers is a set of mirrors, ones that I had installed a long time ago for a specific purpose. Behind one of the mirrors there is a door that is, this time, unlocked.

Unlike all those years ago, I have no need to look over my shoulder as I step inside. Alone I enter a dark hallway - typically, the overhead lights flicker on as I walk over the motion-sensitive floor, but my footsteps don't register in the true reality. I can see well enough without the light, anyway. This place is, or at least looks, exactly as I have left it. I'm honestly surprised that it doesn't look more decayed, given that no one would be here to maintain it.

Here, in this hidden corner of True Lab, is where they once lived.

Well, perhaps to call this existence "living" for them is a little bit strong.

Their cells aren't far, just down another hall adjacent to this one. I almost pass them at first, but once I see those little rooms out of the corner of my eye I can't. I turn and walk down this way, just for a minute.

The feeling that courses through me now as I look upon the cell is... difficult to suppress, but with a shudder I still have to do it. It's as if, if I stare long enough into the dark corners of that space, their images will miserably appear and wait. Wait for me to open the cell and take one of them away, as I always did. But they aren't here anymore, I have to remind myself as I blink those images away. They're up above, sleeping in an abandoned hotel.

I wonder if this place now haunts their dreams? I should think it never entered their minds until they came to this plane. But now...

The bars of this cell aren't on anymore, and I can't seem to turn it back on... I am unsure if this is because I am in a separate plane of reality, or if it's because there is no more power left here. Oh, well. It's not as if I will be using it again. No, what I need is my computer, and I can only hope that I can make use of it. I'm grateful to turn my back on this sight either way.

After being scattered across time and space for so long, I suppose I'm still fixing even the pieces that I have back together.

Speaking of pieces:

From below, I can see some kind of shape moving beneath my feet. It's not my shadow. Kneeling down, I can recognize him immediately. Not just as a "follower," but I recognize the monster that he is. Those glinting jagged teeth and crooked head that comprised the body, the one blinking little eye that followed me wherever I went - these are all features I knew.

He was always very polite. Very respectful of other people.

So, this is where you're hiding.

And now that I've arrived you're "following" me again...

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, even if it will get annoying quickly. It makes it easier for me to keep an eye on him until such a time as my piece can be retrieved.

* * *

She was curious, as a child would be curious, about what was going to happen next.

Unable to contain her curiosity, she walked out of the hotel and tried to see if she would spot the laboratory far below. The walkways of Hotland were for the most part in alignment, but if she craned her head enough she might just be able to see where Alphys' lab once stood, even if partially obscured. Frisk almost had to hang from from the edge to do it; even then, there was a real chance of missing anything happening at all. The rubble and steel was so far away that Dr. Gaster would probably look like an ant.

But what else did she have to do? She was getting worried about the phone running out of power, since it had lasted this long already, so that meant no more games.

Frisk ended up staring for so long that she was feeling the blood go to her head. Maybe it would be easier to just go down there herself. Just when she figured it was time to give up, though, she heard, "hey kiddo, watcha doin'?"

"Eep!" She fell back onto the walkway and the world flipped over for a second as the blood rushed back. "Uhhhhhh."

Sans' grin faced down at her as she sat up. "i know you've had, uh, _experience_ with falling but i think it's a little early for you to be getting a head injury."

Brushing off her clothes, Frisk stood up and simply grinned back. She'd gotten a lot of injuries in her short life but somehow had never before received a blow to the head. Since she'd only be falling into cold lava in the first place, could it really be that bad?

"heh, weird kid," saying so, Sans walked to the edge of the walkway and peered over the side, although not at the angle where he could see anything. "those patches are getting bigger, huh? hope that's nothing we gotta worry about."

"Mm-hm," Frisk joined him and looked out at the grey lava. There was one spot of red in all that stillness, churning and emitting heat.

Although she wasn't looking at him, Sans' smile grew a little bit smaller. "welp, i gotta talk to you about something."

Her stomach sinking, Frisk still didn't look at him. Her smile also got smaller, though, and her head sank a little bit while she watched the one patch of moving lava. "...Yeah?"

"yup," he sighed.

"so uh, i've been noticing you going out a lot to talk to him. you know who i mean."

Frisk froze.

He laughed, but it sounded weak to her. "heh, what? did you think that i didn't...?" When there was no reply, the child staying in the position she was, he continued on a little harder, "i know you only want to do the right thing. uh, at least i assume you do." There was again no reply from Frisk, so he sighed. "but uh, buddy. talking to him. trying to be kind to him... isn't going to do anybody any good."

Finally, the child looked up. "Why?"

"why?" Sans pushed his hands deeper in his pockets. "because he's not gonna be kind to you back. i know it for a fact. i know it from experience."

The lava down below wasn't going to change any time soon. "You and Papyrus still haven't told me what he did," the child said in response, straightening back up.

He shook his head. Despite his relaxed posture, she could start to tell he was adamant. "like i told you before... it's not something you tell kids. brings up bad memories, too, y'know?"

She rocked back on her heels, looking at her feet. "I get that, but..."

"no." Frisk looked back up. Sans' expression had changed, in as subtle a way as a skeleton's could change. "no buts, frisk. i'm being serious this time, okay? you gotta promise me that you'll stay away from him."

" _But_ ," For just a split second, the exasperation on Sans' face was funny to her before it registered. "I mean, I think he's doing the same thing that we're doing. Kind of. Finding a way out of this place."

At this, he just shrugged. "well sure, even psychos want to go home eventually."

"He doesn't seem like a psycho..." Frisk continued.

Sans gave a dark chuckle, "what, the remorseless killing thing isn't doing it for you?"

She had been angry about that then, but thinking about it she didn't really know what his reasons were. This wasn't the first time someone tried to kill her or other people, either. "Maybe back then he was... But, uh," right before she said it, she saw Sans' eyes go black. "Maybe he's changed, just a little, since you fought him. Now he at least seems... seems nice-"

" _Nice_?" It was the second time that she'd seen Sans mad. And it followed so soon after the first time. Frisk's heart jumped into her mouth. "He's _nice?_ You think he's going to be _nice_ just because he got knocked around a little?"

"I said that he _seems_ -"

" _Oh my god,_ you're supposed to be smarter than this!"

Stopped mid-sentence, Frisk's voice disappeared. What she couldn't say out loud, she instead said with her face, her teeth gritted together as she stared at Sans and Sans stared back. At some point, though, she saw out of the corner of her eye that their conversation was attracting attention. Undyne and Papyrus were approaching, and her heart began to beat louder. No, she didn't want them to see this. Her face flushing, she turned and started to run away.

But she had in actuality only taken a step before her body stopped moving, her feet almost not touching the ground. The child could faintly feel her SOUL as though it were popping out of her chest, light blue. "uh, kid, wait-"

Realizing the meaning, all at once something surged in her chest that made her teeth chatter and her fingers clammy. Frisk's head swam. And before she even thought to stop herself she turned her head and screamed, " _DON'T DO THAT!_ "

The very next second she was on solid ground again with a rough jerk, her now-red SOUL disappearing back inside The minute that the sentence had come out, though, only then did she realize how loud it was. Louder than she'd ever been. She clapped her fingers over her mouth as she more fully turned back around, suddenly conscious of how quiet it was now in the aftermath.

Sans, Undyne, Papyrus, all three of them were just looking at her. Frisk's blood started to rush and she clutched her locket with both hands to prevent them from trembling, grimacing deeply. No. On her face now was a scowl. She hadn't done anything wrong, even if her face was burning like she had. She hadn't done anything wrong, and yet they were all just looking at her like that...

Eventually Sans spoke first; when his gaze met hers, she cast her eyes down. "geeze... don't be such a _hot-_ head." Frisk didn't want to see the look on his face, and not just because it, by nature, would be mixed with a smile. "...i think you should sit down and chill for a while, okay?"

Frisk didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. She didn't move.

"i said, _okay_?"

Again, her reply came out too loud. " _Fine!_ "

Sans didn't point out any place that she should sit, so the child went and picked the farthest spot that she thought she could get away with. Just by the hotel, sitting with her back to them.

Back down on the walkway, Undyne sat down near Sans and started to polish her spear with a laugh, "Wow. Frisk's got lungs after all."

"UNDYNE!"

She started to laugh again until seeing the look on Papyrus' face, "Aw come on Pap! This is a good thing, the human's getting more assertive!"

Papyrus ground his teeth, clutching his hands together. "MMNGH..." He looked to his brother, who looked more tired than anything. "SANS?"

There was a moment where he'd seemed distracted, but Sans glanced over. "what? i didn't-... mean to make 'em mad. i was just, heh, trying to bring some _color_ into-"

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY MAKING JOKES RIGHT NOW?"

Sans' grin got bigger, "you can't make jokes seriously, only comedically."

"SANS YOU-"

Before another word could be said, Undyne snorted loudly enough that both of them stopped. "What's with you guys? This isn't a big deal. They're a kid, kids get loud when they're cranky. And you can bet your ass that we're _all_ cranky. At least, I'm cranky. _Hell_ , I did way worse when I was that age - you ask Asgore, he'll tell you."

"YES, BUT FRISK HAS NEVER SHOUTED BEFORE. EXCEPT WHEN DOING AN IMPERSONATION OF ME, NYEH!" Papyrus said. He sighed, "SANS, YOU SHOULD MAKE SURE THEY'RE OKAY."

"nah." To that accusing look on his brother's face, Sans added, "just, let the kid cool off first. i'll go talk to 'em then."

"YOU BETTER."

He yawned, "i _will_." The smaller skeleton seemed to be hoping that this would satisfy Papyrus, but his brother was still looking at him with that worried expression. "uh. i think i'm gonna take a nap, paps."

"OKAY..." But then he looked from Sans to Frisk off in the distance. "WHAT WERE YOU FIGHTING ABOUT, ANYWAY?"

"ahh..." Sans rubbed the back of his neck. He closed his eyes. "nothin'. it's like undyne says, we're all cranky."

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT, I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE FIGHTING ABOUT."

Irritably, Sans cracked open one eye, "then why did you ask?"

Papyrus put his hands on his hips. "I FIGURED IT OUT JUST NOW! SANS..."

"Don't mind me, guys," Undyne said with a grin, buffing her armor. "Not eavesdropping, I swear."

Frisk could sort of hear them, although mostly by virtue of how loud Papyrus was.

She couldn't make out anything that they said, though, and she didn't try. After a while as their talking wound down, the burning on her face disappeared and so did a lot of the burning in her chest. She brought her knees up, wrapping her arms around them, and buried her face in her arms. _Stupid Sans, stupid Core, stupid Gaster, stupid Hotland, stupid me. All of you suck. This sucks. I suck. I wish I was freaking dead._

This went on for a few minutes before she even got tired of that.

Uncurling, Frisk peeked back around to see if anyone else was watching. Sans was actually asleep, but Papyrus looked over at her and their eyes met. She turned bright red and went more firmly back to her sitting position, letting out a sigh. _I hope we go home soon..._

Maybe she would try to follow Sans' example and nap. There wasn't really anything else to do.

But ten minutes after the child closed her eyes, she heard something that made her snap wide awake. "Hiya!"

Flowey grinned at her in gray.

Frisk looked away from him, head in the palm of her hand. "What d'you want, Flowey?"

"Oh, I just wanted to say hi! We haven't spoken for a while, you and me. And it looks like you could use the company!"

"Did you watch all that?" Frisk peeked back at him and saw his smile grow. "You suck."

"You guys are so cute," Flowey hissed, waving back and forth. "I can't help it! He he he!"

Frisk didn't respond and just looked away. These days, the best way to get him to leave was to just not encourage him. Eventually he'd get bored again and be gone to make some small animal miserable.

Except for this moment, where he wasn't phased in the least. "Anyway, since you have nothing to do I thought I'd help you out... a little." His face became skull like and Frisk, seeing it out of the corner of her eye, shuddered. "I'm curious about that scientist too. Whatever it is that happened, it sounds like a pretty dark secret, wouldn't you say? A very dark secret..."

Flowey being interested too was almost enough to prove to her that it was a bad idea. Almost. "So?"

"So! I think I know where to go in True Lab to find out!" Flowey said, his face returning to a goofy grin. "I can't get there by myself though. I'm just a flower! If we both go together, we could find out together."

Frisk pointed her shoes together and shook her head. "I dunno. Sans put me in time out, I think. I probably-"

But Flowey snorted, cutting her off, "And? What is he, your dad?"

"No, but..." She frowned at the flower, and Flowey stuck his tongue out at her in response. Even as she looked away again, she could hear his voice. "Put you in time out, _please_. What are you, _five_?"

"Don't be mean, Flowey," Frisk said.

Indignant, he rose higher from the dirt and growled, "I'm not being-! Look! Do you want to know what the heck your little bonefriends' problems are or what?"

Frisk sat back, after suppressing a little grin at _bonefriends_. "I do."

"But you don't wanna bother them anymore by asking about it, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So, what's the problem?"

The girl crossed her arms. "Is this a trap?"

"Pshyeah I can't even touch you." Flowey wiggled his leaves. "No! I'm just bored, and you look bored, and I thought we could do something that isn't boring together! But if you don't wanna, fine, I'll just find some other way to get in."

That sulky expression that the flower was wearing on his face was new. "Well-" Frisk sat up straighter. "I guess... maybe... I can't go now, though. I think that Papyrus is watching."

"You're having trouble outwitting Papyrus, really?"

"Don't talk about him like that!" She snapped.

Flowey didn't move, but then a big grin split up his face. "He he he he... c'mon, we won't be gone long, I promise. Just one look around while Mr. Hole Hands is gone and then we'll leave." When the child didn't say anything else, glaring at him, he rolled his eyes. "Well _if you want to_ , I'll be waiting for you, okay? See you later, Frisk!"

And then he disappeared into the dirt.

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** Dark, Darker, Yet Darker


	14. Dark, Darker, Yet Darker (Part 1)

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

The elevator shaft that led to True Lab was empty, but there was at least a ladder for her to climb down. She envied Flowey, who pulled himself through even the bare steel spaces using roots and vines; he proved a long time ago that he wasn't simply a flower. Frisk wondered if things like him ever got tired, the way she was getting tired.

The child smacked the red palms of her hands together when she reached the bottom, stepping out of the shaft into a dimly lit hallway. "..." Finally. She hadn't been in this place for years. She never wanted to go back after the last time.

Since last time, when all the amalgamates were evacuated, the lab hadn't been touched by anyone. It was covered in cobwebs and all the power was low. As Frisk walked down he hall, some of the entries that Alphys made on the wall flickered to life. Not because she had passed them, like before, but because Flowey passed them. And even then, some of them were too dim to read or didn't turn on at all. All the low lighting made it hard for the child to see what was up ahead. Almost tripping on a broken tile, she hissed, "It's too dark. How do you know where to go?"

"I'm pretty good at seeing in the dark," Flowey said with a silly grin on his face. His roots pulled him along and left trails over the floor. "I guess that means you gotta follow me."

Normally she liked to be the leader, but Frisk didn't mind that all that much in this place. True Lab was just as creepy as it had always been, and even more so now that it was abandoned. She could hear noises somewhere farther off, although she didn't know if it was something moving around in this place or just the walls creaking. "You're sure he's gone?"

"I'm sure. We don't have anything to worry about for now," the little flower said with a tiny laugh. As she followed him, Frisk finally began to recognize the areas they passed in the dark. They were in a long hall with mirrors and wilted flowers, someplace else she didn't enjoy being. Her heart was beating louder, while beside her Flowey spoke again, "I have to admiiit, I'm excited!"

"This hall leads to a dead end, Flowey."

"You'd think so, but I noticed something has changed recently," Flowey said with a wink. "Just keep walking."

Frisk hesitated and looked over at one of the mirrors. _It's still you, Frisk._ She looked so tired. The girl kept walking down the line of mirrors, until she saw something very different. One of the mirrors was shoved aside from the wall, lying overturned on the floor. The spot that it once occupied held a dark door, one with no handle and a scanner on one side. The child's eyes widened; how long had that been there?

"Pretty sneaky, huh? I can't slide it, so this next part is up to you!"

Frisk frowned. "It looks like it needs a thumbprint."

"What?" Now Flowey frowned. "Skeletons don't have thumbprints. Just slide it open, c'mon."

Shrugging, Frisk pressed the palms of her hand against the door - it was easy to get a grip with how sweaty her hands were now - and was, well, not relieved exactly, when it ground against the floor and slid back into the wall. She smacked her palms against each other again as she walked into the new and even darker hall, Flowey dragging along beside her. Some of the lights overhead struggled and failed to turn on, just barely picking up Flowey's movements over the ground.

The shadows that crept all around them made her footsteps so loud, Frisk kept turning her back in fear that there was a second pair. Every time that she did she didn't see anything, but that didn't stop her from doing it again. When she turned her head for a fourth time, she caught sight of another hallway that led off into the dark. "..." She stopped, and after a second Flowey stopped too.

"Ohh what's down there, do you think?" Flowey peered in, squinting. "Ehhh, it's too dark. Do you want to check?"

"No." Frisk clutched her locket and took a step back. "This was a bad idea. I'm just gonna go and tell Sans I'm sorry-"

Flowey snorted and dragged himself into the hall. "What, you're quitting just like that?" The child, looking left and right, didn't reply. She started to walk after the flower on slow feet, and he chuckled. "Yeaaah, I thought so. That's not like you, is it?"

* * *

Dr. Alphys' notes didn't want to respond at first, but they came on after persistent effort. It is possible to do almost anything with persistent effort.

That being said, I still can't get my computer to work. And even when I managed to make Alphys' notes turn on, they were just barely visible. No light I could emit had an effect on the true plane of reality. It would be irritating to me, and even more irritating that she left her entries scattered all over on monitors across the lab, except that I didn't have any other leads at the moment.

Her experiments with DETERMINATION, as detailed here, are very interesting. I wish that I could have been able to participate, to have more resources at my disposal than what I had back then. Although it's possible that those studies would never have happened in the first place if I was still around.

The results were apparently not satisfactory, either way. It is worrying to see that she was so upset by what she had done. She isn't the kind of person that can handle failure well, and not, I should think, when so many lives were injured in the process. Reading more of her entries on this only proves that concept more true. I wonder how she's faring now... She doesn't write of this problem being resolved here. And yet, she is still the Royal Scientist, if the human's testimony is to be believed.

Well, so much for this. Nothing she's recorded can help me with our current predicament, at least not on a first glance. There is a lot that's worth a second look, though.

I do find something else, too, as I'm reading through the monitors. Entries on a flower that was also tested with DETERMINATION.

That "Flowey," can it be that he isn't a monster at all? ...Very strange.

This is something I'd like to look into further. But, on my own time, perhaps.

* * *

The two of them found a few things that Frisk couldn't make sense of. Some workrooms, one of them reminding her of an operating room in a hospital, some storage spaces, an alcove with a bed attached to it. The kinds of things that she found in the rest of True Lab, complete with equipment with a purpose she couldn't possibly fathom.

Their biggest find was in one of the rooms farther back, what looked like an office with sparse furnishings and monitors flanking the sides. On one side, Frisk could see an old computer on a desk with a corner of color on it, as if a portion was caught in a reality spot. The desk itself was looking clean and the chair scooted back like it had been used relatively recently. "Flowey, look..."

"Aha!" The flower's tendrils coiled around the edges of the desk and he pulled himself up as Frisk sat down in the chair. "Finally, we're getting somewhere."

Curling up in the chair, Frisk pressed the power button and waited for the computer to flicker on. It did not. She supposed that opening doors and sitting in chairs was going to be the limit of how much she could influence real things. She gestured to Flowey, who pressed on the button with his tendrils and just managed to push the button in.

The computer came to life with a black and green light, and several folders of files loaded on the screen in front of the two. Frisk's hands trembled as she fumbled for the mouse - Flowey pushed it into the little reality spot and it became easier for her to handle. The cursor went back and forth between files. All of them were labeled in wingdings. Clicking on one, Frisk watched ten files "tumble" out of it, also all labeled in wingdings. "...I can't read this?"

"Uhhhhhh." Flowey looked around the screen. "Maybe there's something you can click on."

"There's nothing else I can click on."

"Well you don't know that until you start clicking, do you?"

As she was sticking her tongue out at the flower, Frisk's face suddenly fell and she dug into her pocket, murmuring, "Hold on, maybe..."

Opening back up the translator app, she began clicking on the touch screen. There was no way, of course, that she could read any of that out loud - she wouldn't even know how to start - but maybe she had something that could. _You open the OPTIONS menu._

_You select MODES_

_You select CAMERA MODE._

The whole screen became taken up by the camera, and Frisk held it up to the laptop screen. It took a moment of buffering, but at the end of it she found all of the words onscreen being copied over by English words. "Aha, Alphys is great," she whispered with a smile.

"Let me see, let me see!" Flowey looked over her shoulder and squinted. "Oh! Well cool, now _open_ something already."

Frisk pushed the flower away and he returned to the desk, the child biting her tongue as she studied the folder and file names. The files were _all_ labeled as entries, and the folders were all labeled as months. There were so many... What were these even entries on? Frisk couldn't keep her teeth from chattering, and she curled up a little tighter. "Okay... just a second..." She took a deep breath to calm down and clicked on a random one, watching as wingdings suddenly filled the screen.

"You'll read it to me, right?" Flowey asked, looking from the incomprehensible screen to her. Frisk was already holding the camera up again; even though her teeth chattered, her hand was steady enough for the translator to read more. Or, maybe it was just that good of a phone. She needed to get a new one at some point, maybe when they all got back...

"Frisk, c'mon, what's it say?" Flowey was waving around on his stalk impatiently. The sight, for a second, made Frisk smile and laugh before she turned back to the phone in her hands. "Umm... ' _It's been six hours since I've removed them from the M-D solution. They are clumsy and confused. Fearful. As expected, little experience in non-suspension has lead to a difficult adjustment period, particularly regarding ambulatory motion_ ' woah woah wait what do some of these words mean?"

"And who's 'they'?"

Frisk paused. She looked back at the computer and clicked out of the file, choosing another. "... Let's read a different one." She captured the screen with her phone and began to read again, playing with the chain on her necklace with her other hand and trying not to let her voice shake. Flowey was looking at her so expectantly. "It says, ' _1-S will not wake up. He does not respond to any magic I can muster. It's like holding water in your hands._ ' ..." Her trembling didn't stop. The handplate flashed again into her mind.

As Flowey frowned at her, Frisk kept going. "' _His soul is still intact, but he lingers between life and death, unable to commit to either. If he was doing this to spite me, I would not be surprised. This would be less a seri..._ ' Not this one either."

"Oh come on, this one is good, finish reading it."

"No, I-" She looked to the other files. "Let's start from the beginning. At least a couple..."

"Oh, fine. But remember to open that one next after we do that."

Clenching her teeth together, Frisk nodded. With the translator in hand, she opened the first file.

* * *

_Two skeletons arrived in Snowdin out of the blue one day, named Sans and Papyrus. That's what you were told once when you first visited Snowdin, back before you'd even said two words to them._

_The day that they appeared was long ago, even before you showed up._

_And before that, when they didn't live in Snowdin, when they didn't go by the names Sans and Papyrus, they lived in Hotland. Here, in fact, in this dark laboratory. But nobody knew that they even existed. And they certainly didn't know anything about the world outside._

_The kind of information you can get just from one living person, with magic and a soul, is more valuable than anything else you can do with technology alone. But that kind of experimentation requires dedication. Both on the participant, and the one doing the experimenting. They were painful, unending, scary experiments, a child's nightmare every time they're taken to the hospital or doctor's office._

_(You know exactly what they are, because he kept notes about everything that he did.)_

_When there is no one with the kind of dedication necessary to endure all that, someone being forced to participate... also works pretty well, actually._

_They were just created to be somebody's lab rats. They were just tools to be used, tools that would unlock secrets to one day help all the monsters escape from the underground._

_Their whole lives were defined by that, and only that._

_It was for a good cause, right? The best cause._ _It was justifiable._

_They didn't have names. They were just subjects, to be labeled and kept around for further use._

_They didn't have a father at all._

_Just like you are now, those two were children once. You might not have actually realized that until this moment. But..._ _And this is also something you only now realized..._ _Unlike you do now, they didn't have a childhood._

_They had this._

...

_(Reading about the horrible experiments conducted by Dr. Gaster...)_

_(You feel drained of determination.)_

* * *

After a moment, Flowey noticed that Frisk wasn't reading anymore.

That startled him from his grinning stupor, looking at the computer screen as if pretending to read along with what she said. Looking back around, he saw her curled up now on the computer chair, her face pressed against her knees, arms wrapped around herself, and the phone limp in her hand. "...Heya, Frisk?" From the child, there was no reply. "What happens next?" He bounced up and down.

Frisk shuddered and made an unintelligible sound.

"Hey, c'mon, why are you stopping? I think we're getting to a good part."

Although still staying in her position, Frisk shook her head just a little.

"Okay, you need a minute? I can wait. We've been here for a while anyway." Flowey snorted.

But his aloof expression fell when he heard a loud, deep intake of breath from the computer chair. And then with it, he noticed her shoulders shaking as she took in another one right after. "..." He bobbed to the left, squinting, sneering. "Woah. Are you... crying?"

The only reply he got was another huge and sharp gasp. Frisk's body had begun to tremble. His sneer turning into a scowl, Flowey raised his voice, "What are you _crying_ about? This guy is dry as toast! It's not that bad."

"..." The sobbing didn't stop.

"Stop being such a baby! I thought you wanted to find this stuff out! We haven't even figured out how it ends! I mean, we kind of do already, but..." But Frisk didn't respond, even when Flowey came off the desk and poked at her with one of his roots. "Frisk? Frisk?"

The sobbing just got louder.

He scowled deep and dragged himself off the chair, onto the ground. "So you're just going to quit?" Frisk's head dipped up and down slightly. "You always do this! You crybaby! I don't know why I thought this was going to be a good idea!"

No reply.

"... Fine. You're boring. I'm leaving."

No reply.

Flowey looked up at her for a long time, his scowl turning into a grimace. " _Bye_."

Frisk didn't respond. Finally, when she did look up, she saw that the flower was gone. So as another sob wracked her body, she put her head back in place and tried to breathe.

A long time passed like that, or at least so it felt, before something unsettled her.

She heard a high, musical ping from her phone. It took a few seconds, but eventually she pried herself apart and looked... she closed the translator app, feeling a sick twinge to see it still having the text from the last entry. And when she closed it... _SANS sent you a text!_ "... ..." Frisk opened the text messages.

_knock knock._

Wiping her eyes and sniffing hard, Frisk typed: _Who's there?_

_SANS sent you a text!:_ _not u apparently._

She started to smile, but that only made her tears come back. With trembling fingers she pecked out: _Srry I'm taking a walk in waterfall._

She hoped she'd have a minute to catch her breath, but the response was immediate. _SANS sent you a text!: kk._ And then came a second one: _paps says we gotta talk when u come back._

The computer screen was still staring at her, all of the wingdings blurred in front of her eyes, and Frisk thought she was going to throw up all over it when she swallowed the lump in her throat. She pulled her knees up tight to keep from sobbing, but even then it took ages for her next response: _Kaaaay if paaaps wants us toooo._

_Click_

"!" The hair on the back of the child's neck stood on end. That sound came from outside.

_Click-click, click-click, click-click_

They were footsteps.

The chair rolled back across the floor as Frisk jumped out of it, having to draw it back in with her free hand at the last moment. She tried to turn off the computer, but no matter how many times she rammed her finger on the power button it didn't register. The screen just continued to blare the dark light and Frisk could hear her own pulse in her ears like a cuckoo clock. She could hear her breathing racheted up with it. No, no, no, no, no,

_Click-click click-click click-click click-click_

It was getting louder. Frisk's head whipped left and right, and she cradled the phone close to her hands. No, no, no... The desk. The desk. Under the desk, under the desk. She was still small enough that she could fit if she stayed curled up. She got down on her hands and knees and squeezed in, backwards, drawing the chair right up to her as if no one had been sitting in it at all.

Ten seconds later, the door slid open.

Frisk held a hand over her mouth to keep quiet her noisy breaths, and gritted her teeth to keep them from chattering, eyes blurring back over with tears. Walking into her limited range of vision were a familiar pair of shoes, pair of pants, and the edges of a labcoat. Suddenly it felt as though she wasn't able to breathe at all. She gently put the phone down on the floor and cupped both hands over her mouth, thankful for Papyrus's phone-casing that muffled any noise that might have made.

Dr. Gaster's feet were moving around the desk, and the hum of the computer reminded her of what he must be seeing in front of his eyes. She heard him muttering in his unintelligible speech, pulling the chair back and then pushing it in again. He was confused, perhaps. Maybe he didn't know what had happened, that there was someone there, just that the computer was on for some reason. He turned around and walked a bit away from where the child was hiding, presumably examining the rest of the room.

_SANS sent you a text!_ : _lol ok_

For just one moment, Frisk's heart stopped beating.

* * *

 

**Next Chapter:** Dark, Darker, Yet Darker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I borrowed a bit of the dialogue from Zarla's comics for the Gaster entries, specifically "Arm thief! Arm thief!" and "This will come in handy later". As of yet they are two of the few comics that show him actually transcribing his notes to his computer.
> 
> Posting an illustration here is kind of an experiment; I'm sorry if it looks ugly or unwieldy or if people would prefer I did not. ;w;


	15. Dark, Darker, Yet Darker (Part 2)

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

Time went on forever. Frisk didn't breathe. She didn't make any sound under the desk; if she pretended hard enough, maybe reality would change so that the cellphone didn't make any sound either. And he wouldn't look.

But then again, maybe he really hadn't heard it. So far she saw him walking back to the desk - and it was then where she really thought she'd lose it - but then she heard him typing and clicking the mouse while he stood. Every muscle was tensed up until the child felt like her body was on fire, and her lungs inside her were also burning, wanting air. She was starting to feel dizzy.

After all, the text alert wasn't very loud. It was just a little noise. So, maybe-?

And then she heard, " ~~OKAY COME OUT FROM UNDER THERE.~~ "

When she looked up, the chair had been dragged back out and Dr. Gaster's head came into view, staring right at her. Rather than screaming, Frisk took the loudest and most painful gulp of air that she had ever in her life, bumping her head on the underside of the desk as she instinctively tried to shoot upright. Her wide eyes trained on his face, the child fumbled for the phone and opened up the translator app.

He frowned and spoke again. His voice echoed out in English immediately, " _I said come out from under there._ "

Frisk's heart had begun beating very fast. She stayed right where she was, shaking her head quickly.

Suddenly Dr. Gaster waved a hand and her SOUL glowed blue; at that moment, Frisk felt an unseen force tugging her in his direction. Letting out a yelp, she pressed her hands against the sides of the desk legs, struggling to stay in place. Her already aching arms protested, and she felt like something was going to tear out of her if she kept at it long enough, but...

"...!" The tug on her SOUL only grew harder. Frisk squeezed her eyes shut. "-Okayokayokay!"

The tug stopped and her SOUL disappeared. Dr. Gaster straightened up, stepping out of her way, and the child slowly crawled out from under the desk with the phone in hand. She felt a chill just from being next to him; as soon as there was space to stand, she scrambled to her feet and ran to the opposite side of the room.

Dr. Gaster didn't look very amused. " _Did you turn this on?_ " He pointed to the computer. Shaking and in tears, Frisk shook her head, and his tone grew harsher, " _Don't lie to me._ " She again shook her head, and he said, " _You read my notes._ "

At this, Frisk nodded. Not all of them, but enough. Enough to understand what kind of person he really was and the real reason why Sans and Papyrus... her head swam again.

" _Those notes were private._ "

Her throat clogged, the child didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. Of course they were private. She took a step back and her shoulder blades brushed against the wall behind her. _Am I going to die?_

After a moment, Dr. Gaster seemed to relax, just a little bit. " _Well. It doesn't matter. At least it's on, anyway._ " Every word he spoke, he seemed to only be speaking to himself. " _I can look through it later, provided that they didn't erase anything._ " He pushed the chair back in. " _...As for you._ "

Frisk held the phone to her chest with both hands, making gasp after gasp as she struggled to control her breathing. His tone cold, Dr. Gaster continued, " _Do you see the shape at my feet?_ "

Looking down, for the first time she noticed something that she had originally passed off as the skeleton's misshapen shadow. It was blocky and moved in a familiar pattern... although she couldn't make out what the shape was, she had a feeling as to what _it_ was. Another one of the trapped monsters that she kept seeing. She looked from the shadow to Dr. Gaster, her heart sinking. She nodded.

" _This shape is a monster that has been shattered and is trapped in yet another plane of reality. Somehow you are able to help these monsters. Bring this one into our plane of reality._ "

Although he said it so coolly, Frisk knew exactly what was going to happen if she did. He'd kill this one like he had all the others, for a reason she still didn't know. Her grip tightened. "Why?"

" _They hold pieces of me that were lost when I fell into the Core. I wish to retrieve them._ "

It wasn't registering in her head. She looked from Dr. Gaster to the monster. Slowly, the monster had been inching out from under Dr. Gaster's feet and over to her instead, a flat set of sharp-toothed jaws opening and closing from an odd angle. Its eyes were aimed at her as he gaped. Slowly, steadily, the flat monster's grin grew wider as he stared at the child, until it began to curl into his face to avoid splitting it open. Frisk's skin crawled and she pushed back as the shape slid closer and closer to her.

" _I am not repeating myself. I know you know how to pull him out of there._ "

Frisk shook her head. Even as she did, however, she knelt down towards the monster and put the phone in her pocket. She couldn't say what would happen if she didn't do as Dr. Gaster asked. She couldn't do much to help the monster either way, at least not yet. She couldn't tell it to run away. Frisk, finally, pressed her hands towards the floor and scrabbled for the pixelated shape.

This time she did it with her eyes open, and she watched as the air around her fizzed and began to break into white popping blocks before her eyes, while her hands-touched something. Were they-inside the monster's mouth?

She grasped whatever it was as hard as she could and pulled, biting on her tongue. "Nnnh!"

The head, fizzing white, turned sideways and upright, sticking out of the ground. It became a full, red-colored head, albeit one with a huge, dissecting smile on its face. The moment that the fizzing stopped, Frisk let go and pressed away from those sharp jaws.

The head continued to look at her, smiling wide, and out of his mouth she began to hear guttural sounds. She felt cold; as it made those sounds, it was pushing on through the floor closer and closer to her. There was something in his mouth, on his tiny little tongue that flicked at her like a piercing. The guttural sounds became words, "Hey there, miss... do you happen to need that... SOUL...?"

Right behind the head, what Frisk could see in her peripheral vision was a huge skeledog face. She screamed and dodged to the side.

 _SHZOOWM_. The head turned to dust before her eyes, scattering across the office.

Falling to the floor was what looked like a small white marble, the object that had been affixed to the tongue of the talking monster head. Frisk felt something spike over her body and cause pain in every nerve; as Dr. Gaster moved to retrieve that little white object, she dived for it first, palming it into her hands and moving back to another side of the room.

As he skidded, reaching for her and missing, Dr. Gaster's shoes kicked up more dust. " _What the-!_ " The phone's speaker now muffled by cloth, his speech was distorted with static.

The exit was between them now, albeit Dr. Gaster was still closer - and now he was also even closer to her. Frisk held on to the small white whatever-it-was with both hands; the hairs rose on the back of her neck as already her palms and fingers were turning cold and filling with pins and needles. The little object was morphing in her hands, spidering out, tendrils growing and waving like flames between her fingers. It felt so, so cold. Dr. Gaster's voice was even colder. " _Give that to me. **Now**._ "

Frisk shook her head. There was dust on the sleeve of her sweater.

" _Fine. Then I will take it from you along with your SOUL._ "

Her voice cracking, she said only, "I don't want to fight you."

" _It doesn't matter._ " Expressionless, Dr. Gaster raised a hand a half-circle of bones rose around Frisk, all pointed at one end. Those points were all aimed at her face. Her skull would be split five different ways. They suddenly flew at her with incredible speed, but just before they hit Frisk ducked and they shattered against the wall.

Her SOUL rose red from her chest. Straightening, she looked back up at him. Her tear-streaked eyes changed, filling up with a different kind of tears, and her trembling fingers tightened around the piece of him in her hands.

Dr. Gaster raised his hand again. " _Your SOUL will give me the power to get us out of this world. So you must die._ "

_Dr. Gaster is attacking you._

* * *

Arbogast, I'm sorry.

... ...

What that human must be thinking, having read through my project notes, I can only guess from their expression. Admittedly, with all of the flesh present on the human face, it gives me a lot to work with. More than anything, they appear distressed and in a state of shock. Such would also account for how little they are, at present, able to speak. Faced with a cruel reality, shutting down is the most common kind of reaction... at first. Then anger, sorrow, or something else, is sure to follow.

Their emotions are still sorting out on their face, but I see anger directed at me, from even before Arbogast's untimely end. That kind of anger looks very familiar.

It's clear, at least, that if nothing else the human really does care for Su... Sans and Papyrus.

Even so. What a joke. To think of a human judging me for doing what I had to do for the good of monsters. What I did to undo what _they_ did to us all those centuries ago. What this human managed to undo by mere happenstance, by accident.

It was their fear that drove us underground. The child, rightfully, displays fear even now. ...In their hands, that piece of myself is reacting violently. It flashes and twitches. Parts of it grow like veins through the air before collapsing back into the dependable spherical shape. It is mostly soulless magic, so it logically is affected by the will of whoever is in contact with it.

I have no choice. You don't realize it, but if it's not me, it will be one of them who takes your SOUL eventually. Your friends Undyne, or Sans - probably not Papyrus, with what I remember but- ...my point still stands. They won't have a choice either, if it comes to that.

The most I can do is give you a quick end, human, so hold still.

* * *

The room turned dark, at least in her eyes. The only thing that stood out was Gaster's form before her, his hands light blue. The entries, the computer monitor, the desk, they each disappeared.

Until her SOUL turned blue and Frisk's body jerked to the left, crashing into the wall shoulder-first. The child's sharp gasp cut off as she fell to the floor. Her SOUL flashing red again, she scrambled to her feet; an orange bone was flying towards her face and she charged headlong through the attack, only to get smacked on the blue bone following after it.

**-5 HP**

Her SOUL turned blue again and she flew face first towards the other wall; Frisk cried out, but this time she landed weakly on her feet when she fell. Despite everything, the piece was still in at least one hand, turning it numb. She turned around just in time - on flew a blue bone, which she held still for, and an orange bone, which she ran through a few steps. Her lip was bleeding, but she just wiped her mouth on her sleeve as she faced Dr. Gaster. He didn't say anything. His expression didn't change.

It was so easy for him. So easy for him to attack.

_The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others._

His "level of violence" ...it was so high from hurting Sans and Papyrus. Over and over, for who knows how long.

Not even just that... there were other people that he had hurt too, surely even more people before them. Those monsters that she pulled free, he turned all of them to dust so easily. Frisk shivered. Seeing this monster in front of her, it filled her with something she couldn't describe.

Bones began flying at her from every corner, from above and below. They spiked up from the floor at random intervals, flew in rows at her from the floor, jabbed down from the ceiling, and formed rings around her body that she ducked from. There were blue bones and orange together, and bones which would switch colors right before impact. Frisk got hit in the gut with one, leaving her breathless. **\- 5 HP** While she was recovering her breath, her rhythm slipped and she tripped over the next row of bones that slammed into her feet. **-5 HP**

The moment she stood back up, her SOUL turned blue again. Frisk was sent flying upwards until she slammed into the ceiling; from below, a line of spiked bones all appeared, aimed at her. Eyes widening she struggled, hands scrabbling on the wall until they caught on a ceiling tile. She pulled herself an in to the left, and the bones all embedded themselves in the ceiling beside her. She flickered red and tumbled back to the floor. "Ah!" She rolled, and the spiked bones drove into the ground.

Frisk rolled to her feet. A white bone slammed into her mouth and she stumbled back several steps, feeling dizzy. **-5 HP**

In her hand, as if clinging to it, the white piece refused to fall. It was sparking and wriggling erratically, something that hurt against her skin so much it brought her back to the present in a snap.

It was going to be more and more of this. He wouldn't stop until she was dead.

_No._

Something slid out of Frisk's sleeve.

She couldn't see very well anymore, and she couldn't breathe very well, and she felt like her teeth were cracking from how hard they were pressed together right now, but she had the strength to suddenly run forwards towards her opponent. In her left hand was a small knife that glinted with a dull steel. She swung it in a wide arc as orange and blue bones circled over her head and she felt it connect.

Dr. Gaster stumbled backwards and almost slipped on the dust. " _-!?_ "

There was a tear, now, in his lab coat, and the shirt under it. She didn't see how much damage had been done - if she had done any at all - but instead, Frisk turned and ran to the exit while the skeleton was regaining his balance. She heard him shout something, " ~~GET BACK HERE!~~ ", but in her phone it was just static and loud vowel sounds.

She had to get out of the hallway. She had to get out of range. Frisk had never been more grateful for how fast she could move until now, when she dipped around a corner without feeling her SOUL turn blue or another bone flying at her. But which way was the exit? She couldn't remember. But she was too scared to stay still and decide, so each time she came to a turn she turned.

It did help that, when she stepped on one part of the floor with more color than the rest, suddenly the whole hallway lit up dimly. Although she knew that meant Dr. Gaster could see her more easily, too. She could see, at the very end, a small opening where she had slid the wall behind the mirrors back. That was it! That was the way into the more familiar True Lab.

She dashed to it. She slid the door closed behind her with her sweating, shaking palms. Then the child stopped, breathing hard, staring at the mirrors around her. Her mouth was still bleeding, but it wasn't just from the busted lip.

Frisk frowned and stuck a finger inside, poking around. There was something loose...

Her sick stomach felt sicker. The child spat, and a bloodied tooth came out onto the ground. "... Ah... ..."

From behind the door, there were footsteps. Blue and orange bones flashed all around her, and Frisk smothered a gasp. Dropping the knife, and digging into her pocket, she brought out the last piece of spaghetti pie. As she chomped, the cold spaghetti, meat, cheese, and cinnamon pie crust filled her mouth, and then the child ran forward down the hall. _Your HP was maxed out._

**-10 HP**

Clobbered by blue bones, Frisk's stride didn't break and she stumbled into the sick room full of beds. She stopped for a precious few seconds, wondering if she should hide. But then in her hands, the piece of Dr. Gaster she was even now holding on to had begun to change again. It was rippling, and noises started coming from it. "...!" Voices were coming from it.

Frisk ran right without thinking.

The voices from the piece were getting louder. " ~~WHAT ARE YOU DOING?~~ " From her phone, she heard, " _What are... doing?_ "

Her heart thudded, "No, no, stop it-!"

" ~~YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, WHAT I WAS DOING WAS~~ " became " _... don't understand... doing was..._ "

"Shh!" Frisk hissed as she ran into the old dismantled Determination Extractor and stopped to catch her breath. "Shh! Stop it! Stop!"

_Dr. Gaster is preparing a non-bone-related attack._

She was heading to a dead end. She'd made the wrong turn in the sick room. Her only hope would be that Dr. Gaster wouldn't find her, would assume she went some other way. Would, really, assume that she was smarter than she was at this moment. "Shh! Shut up, shut up, please!" And that only worked if she wasn't sitting here holding a talking piece of-

Frisk looked right and saw the skeledog head staring at her.

The white glow building from its mouth reflected in her eyes.

_ssSSSHZOOWM._

* * *

Every door I try to move through normally is clogged with overgrowth, and I have to fight to tear it open. It definitely wasn't here before I entered that office, but now it's everywhere; each time I touch it, it causes a little pain. It isn't enough to do any serious harm, but it is slowing me down. The worst of it is when the human slides the door to this section shut and the vines start closing in before my very eyes.

I don't have time for this. At this rate, the human might escape, and that would be disastrous for more reasons than one.

Even without seeing them, I have to stop them.

Fighting with the door, I call out to that piece of me... It's something I can faintly feel with effort, as disorienting as it is. And with that piece, I can direct my magical energy in the human's direction with a very specific attack.

Coming out into the hallway with mirrors, I hear a distant sound like a shout and the familiar firing of magic. Now, which direction was that in...? It seems north of this point, so that is where I'll go after reaching the sick room.

I can see their body. They're lying on their back completely still, the piece of me still in their hands. The attack must have hit its mark.

As I approach, I don't know what I'm expecting. Perhaps for their SOUL to rise up, free of their body? The blasting attack is my strongest; even if humans are able to survive more than most monsters, the child should still... be...

...They're still...

Moving...

* * *

Everything hurt.

Frisk's body trembled violently, and she gasped for air.

She could hear, from the corner of her consciousness, slow footsteps over the floor. But the only thing she could feel in relation to her body was the white piece in her hand, which had returned to a marble shape. From that cold shape on her palm, however, Frisk began to feel other sensations. Like the hard cold floor, pressing on the back of her head and shoulder blades. She had to wake up somehow. She had to. She could feel his footsteps approaching, too.

With a low grunt, Frisk pushed with one hand until she flipped herself over. She cracked her eyes open, but the world in front of her vision was blurry and dark. She heard noises above her, which were repeated in crackling speech from her pocket, " _Humans are even more durable than I remember._ "

"This... one... is..." Frisk said in a whisper as she continued her sharp, erratic breathing. She tried to push herself up, but she wasn't strong enough.

"... ..."

"..." At the very least able to push herself onto her knees, she looked up. Dr. Gaster had another of the blasters behind him, aimed at her. She ducked her head, forcing a smile on her face despite her shaking shoulders. "... yeah... I couldn't... beat Papyrus... either... come to think of it..."

He hadn't fired yet. "... ...?"

Frisk risked a look and saw that dog head still staring at her with black eyes. "... Every time... he tried to capture me... I mean. I thought I... was a goner, but..." she ducked her head again. "...spared me... every time... said we could... be friends."

Her vision was going darker. Frisk slumped. "...so cool... uh... guess you...'ll be... diff'rent..." Before the child could put out a hand to protect herself, she fell to the side. She fell, and everything flew out of reach of her senses.

She fell from her body into a dark void.

* * *

They are not dead, even now. Only unconscious, for the moment. They really are durable.

Everything they said...

That piece of me is out of their hands, now. It has assumed a more familiar shape, now that I am near. It's like looking in a mirror, albeit the one looking back at me is cracked and unstable in their form.

Something gives me room for hesitation. Just a little...

But this has to be done, too. I cannot just leave an unstable part of myself, and my magic, sitting here unattended. So I absorb it, as I have done the others. What comes through me is an amalgamation of things. More power, more energy. I feel as though not even someone like Sans would be able to bring me to my knees, now.

If it were only more power that came with this magic, that would be alright, but it's not.

These-

These-

Memories-

Even more than the increased energy, they're flooding through me.

I remember...

Everything I hadn't remembered. I remember-

 _Oh god,_ I remember now.

I-

I-

I wish I hadn't. I wish I didn't. I need to stop, I need to bring it all back under control, but I can't.

It's not just- it's not just one memory, but dozens of them. Dozens of unwanted feelings and thoughts. Things that I didn't need but now I don't see how I could have-... but, there's one-

One memory- in particular-

...Alphys-

Why did you-?

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** Like Big Brothers


	16. Like Big Brothers

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 1/40

G 10

* * *

Her hand was completely numb, pressed against something hard. Frisk tried to open her eyes, but the lids were gummy. She wiped it away and shifted positions in the process, her face now up against the hard thing and her body moving off her other hand. Pins and needles slowly increased in intensity. Her head began to ache terribly, and a burbled groan left her smushed lips. Her hair was getting all over her forehead and she rubbed it away, but it just fell right back into place.

She, with some difficulty, cracked open just one eye.

The hard thing was the floor. Suddenly the world became oriented correctly again.

It was dark. It was cold. She was in a room... no, a hall. A grey hall. Her body was aching. She let out another, longer, but quieter groan. There was some awful taste on her tongue and she spat on the ground, seeing nothing of interest in her saliva. "Eeuuu..." Frisk rubbed her eyes again and opened up the other one. Still dizzy. Things were tilting. She was still alive.

The moment that Frisk started to move further she found her muscles complaining, all of them stiff from her little nap on the floor. Something in her side hurt the most, giving her shooting pains and she struggled to get into a sitting position. She couldn't hold still, either, so weak that she shook. Nothing seemed to have changed from before she passed out, except she was all alone now. Not sure what to feel, the child leaned forward and took a couple deep breaths.

_Click-click, click-click, click-click_

She looked up, and her blood ran cold. Dr. Gaster had entered the hall. He was carrying a mug in one hand.

Slowly, painfully, Frisk reached into her pocket and brought out the phone, placing it in front of her like a shield. While Frisk watched with narrow eyes, Dr. Gaster set the mug down next to the phone. She leaned over and sniffed the dark, steaming liquid she could see inside. It didn't smell good. "...wha."

" _It's coffee. Drink it._ "

Dr. Gaster sat down against the wall, not facing her. His clothes were different... Kind of reversed in color. It made him look less like a movie villain, at least, although that didn't mean she didn't still feel sick or confused. Frisk looked from him to the coffee, and wondered if it was an option to just lie back down and go to sleep. "...Coffee makes me jittery."

He glanced over at her. " _You are already jittery. **Drink it.**_ "

The child glared over at him, but in the next moment she gave in and took the mug into her hands. It was hot, but the positive of that was that it brought feeling back into her fingers and soothed the pins and needles. She took a cautious sip, choked, and nearly spat it out. As Dr. Gaster risked another glance her way, Frisk took another sip and swallowed it with a grimace on her face. She still felt too weak, so she took a couple more. Eventually, she realized she would have to have the whole mug full.

_You drink the terrible old coffee made by Dr. Gaster._

_Your HP is maxed out._

Frisk brought her legs out in front of her and curled up, just holding the lukewarm mug in her hands. That magic blast and all the blows she received already felt like just a bad dream. But she still felt sick, still felt drained. "...How did you get coffee?"

" _By persistent effort._ "

"Oh." Frisk set the mug aside and held her hands under her knees to keep them warm. There was nothing more coming from him. Experimentally, Frisk felt around her teeth with her tongue and was saddened to find that one of them was still missing, the gum of that area completely healed up. ...That probably wasn't going to grow back, after all. "...So..." When she spoke, Dr. Gaster gave a start. "Are you gonna take my SOUL later, or...?"

" _Quiet._ "

"...'Kay." She tilted her head, trying to see his face a little better. Something had definitely changed. She kept her head down, rocking a little bit where she sat. When she thought too hard about what just happened, her stomach felt sicker and sicker, so she tried to think about something else. She was still alive. That was good, right? The phone was intact, despite how often it must have been smashed against something. None of these things made it feel better.

She heard him talking again, although still not looking at her. " _I have... more questions. Will you answer them?_ "

Frisk chewed on the insides of her cheeks as she stared back at the ground. She had to wipe her face and eyes again, but finally she said, quietly, "...Sure."

" _How do you know Sans and Papyrus?_ "

Her breath caught in her throat and formed a lump, which she swallowed back down. "Umm... they were..." She faltered. There were so many things to say, where to start? ...And why was he asking in the first place? "... ..."

" _... ... ...If you do not wish to tell me..._ "

"They were-" Frisk looked back up. "They were the first monsters I met when I left the ruins. They had positions as sentries there." She still didn't know what a sentry was. Just that it had to do with capturing humans, apparently. "They were ordered to capture any humans that ever came underground, and so Papyrus was trying to do that. Y'know, so he could be in the royal guard?"

" _Evidently he failed._ "

Frisk frowned. "He didn't fail. He beat the tar out of me three times without even trying that hard."

" _... Really...?_ "

"Papyrus is really really strong. He's just so nice that you wouldn't know it. He was nice enough that he let me go the last time I escaped. And then, uh," As she spoke, Frisk brought her hands back up and toyed with the locket, if only to give herself something else to focus on. "Then we became friends after that. He was my first..."

" _Your first monster friend?_ "

Frisk's voice got harder. "My first friend _ever_."

" _Ah_."

There was a silence as the girl thought about it again, smiling just a little bit, holding the locket between both hands and pressing it to her lips. Finally she heard Dr. Gaster speak up, " _And Sans?_ "

"We weren't really... friends, I don't think. It's kind of... hard to tell." She frowned. "He made a promise to someone that he would protect me and watch over me. Keep me safe. Buuut..." Frisk squinted. "He kind of, uh, well, sucked at that."

" _Excuse me?_ "

"I mean-" here, her voice rose. "His-his fight with you was the first time I ever - I seriously thought he couldn't even - I mean that he could fight all this ti - because each time a monster tried to kill _me_ , before, he was like - and I di - I mean I almost - he just _sucked!_ Oh my _god_."

"- _Uh?_ "

"It's not bad, though," Frisk said, slowly. Looking inwards as she did. "... I think, if he had actually been protecting me, a lot more people would probably be dead." As she spoke, she picked up in speed. "He did something more important than that... He, he..." She paused, trying to find a way of saying it that wasn't cheesy. "He... he made me laugh a lot." Frisk buried her face in her legs.

" _... He's always cracking jokes._ "

"Bad ones. Have you ever-" She looked back up and then back down again. "Have you ever been in a place that... that... everyone wants to kill you... for some reason or another?"

" _... ... ..._ "

"Maybe so, or maybe not, huh? ...Well, it's... it's... I was just seven years old then. But I... no matter how scary... because he... made things seem not that bad... and even if we weren't friends back then, it still felt like there was someone... And Papyrus, too. Because of him, I had a friend to talk to. And if it weren't for him, I couldn't have made friends with Undyne, or anyone else, really..." Frisk shivered harder and hugged her legs tightly. Dr. Gaster said nothing, patiently waiting for her to finish. "They both... to me, they were both like... like..." She trembled and stopped. "I can't say it... out loud..."

" _...Huh._ "

Looking back up, Dr. Gaster was finally looking her way for more than just a second. When their eyes met, though, he looked down at his own feet. Frisk wiped at her face again and smiled weakly, "You get the idea. The bottom line is, they're two of my best friends. And I care about them very much."

At that, the skeleton went stiff, and for a moment he wondered if she had said the wrong thing after all. But then she heard him say, almost as if to himself, " _I suppose someone has to._ "

All of the things that she'd read just a little while earlier came flooding back as he said that, though, and now it was her who went stiff. Her smile vanished. "That's why it... it's so horrible... what you did..." She hadn't had any idea, all this time.

She heard him sigh. " _You don't understand._ "

Without looking up, Frisk shuddered again. "I don't _want_ to understand..." Dr. Gaster said nothing more, and then slowly she murmured, "I do understand. I don't _want_ to. Don't want to... Not when it's those guys..."

He's really, really, really horrible.

"Why didn't you finish me off?" She looked back up, wiping her eyes again. "Why'd you stop for me?"

His response was immediate, and, just a little bit, Frisk thought she could see him shaking from where he sat. " _Because it wasn't for you_." He pressed a hand over his face. Was he regretting it? Letting her live? Or something else?

"Oh..." She turned her toes in and out, pressing the locket back up to her lips. "...haaa... Sans in gonna be so mad at m-!" There was a loud pinging noise, and both Frisk and Dr. Gaster jumped.

_SANS sent you a text!: ok srsly where r u._

Frisk stared at the phone for a long second, her heart in her mouth. She pressed both hands over her face when she saw another one follow it soon after: _undyne says ur not at waterfall._

The child swallowed, looked to the phone, and then at Dr. Gaster, and then back at the phone again. She got on her hands and knees and hovered over the screen, sitting back and poising her finger. But she didn't peck anything out. What would she say?

_SANS sent you a text!: ur silence is v encouraging ha ha_

"... ..."

_SANS sent you a text!: frisk?_

In a flash her finger went over the letters and she sent the text: _ok I'm coming back sorry_

_SANS sent you a text!: comg back from where tho_

Frisk chewed on her nail. "Oh my god, Sans," she hissed under her breath.

" _That's him?_ " Dr. Gaster spoke up, slowly getting to his feet.

"Yup." She typed another text, quickly: _I was just looking at stuff in the caves sorry_

_SANS sent you a text!: o rly?_

Frisk chewed her nail until it tore. "Why is it that he takes like half an hour to respond to anything back home, but now-!"

Dr. Gaster put his hands in his pockets, staring down at the child coolly. " _He's worried about you. I think it would be best that you left. A confrontation between us would not end well for him._ "

Frisk nodded. She scooped the phone up as she stood, typing out: _Ya rly I guess you keep missing me_. She sighed and the sigh caught in her throat. How was she going to face them again, knowing what she did now? What could she possibly say after knowing all the things he hadn't wanted her to know. He'd know that she knew immediately. It would be written on her face. Above all else, she couldn't start crying again. That wasn't going to make anybody feel better.

Well, even if the prospect made her nervous, Frisk pocketed the phone. "I'm gonna go. Bye, Dr. Gaster."

" _...Goodbye._ " He murmured. He still looked shaken.

_I suppose someone has to._

What came unbidden to her head, when she heard him say such a thing, was:

_Do you?_

But she didn't stop to ask him about it, disappearing into another corridor.

* * *

Rather than make me stronger, I've become weak again with that last piece.

My assessment hasn't changed. I still have no idea how to pull us out of this world without the power of a human SOUL. I have absolutely no leads at all. And by letting them go, I'm ridding myself of the one good opportunity I have to take the SOUL when their friends aren't there to protect them. But even knowing all that, I couldn't kill the human.

... I used to know that feeling too. Having "friends."

At least...

Having those that you care about, and that care about you. With all of your heart.

Yes, I knew that feeling. That was, at least in the beginning, why I began that project... as much of a paradox as that is. It was because I was willing to do whatever I had to for the sake of my... "friends." For all of the monsters suffering underground. It was because of that feeling.

Over time that faded, and I guess it was replaced by _something_ else.

Now I don't have it at all anymore. In this place, and with what I've done, I can't feel anyone's hearts except for my own. But even if it's not there, the memory of it lingers on me like handprints.

But those two, they always had that feeling. With each other, at least, if I allowed it with no one else. And when I disappeared from their lives, they used it, and it spread. They made "friends" too.

I can't take that from them.

Well, then. We'll all just.

Stay trapped here forever.

Because of my weaknesses.

* * *

Frisk climbed out of True Lab and put some rubble over the entrance, looking around frantically. So far, so good...

"HUMAN!"

"EeeAh!"

Papyrus's long bony arms wrapped around her from behind, lifting her up into a big hug. "THERE YOU ARE! WE WERE STARTING TO GET WORRIED WHEN YOU WANDERED OFF!"

After he set her down, Frisk turned and saw Sans there too. This was it. They were both looking at her. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

As she stammered, Papyrus' face turned sympathetic and he patted Frisk on the head. "IT'S ALRIGHT, HUMAN. JUST TRY NOT TO WANDER OFF SO EASILY, EVEN IF YOU ARE UPSET. THIS IS A DANGEROUS AREA, I THINK? SO IT COULD CAUSE YOU HARM!"

"I-I won't, I promi-" she felt something hitch, and she couldn't finish. _Be cool, be cool, be cool._ "-Promise." A little hesitantly, she looked to Sans then. He always looked the same; this time, he didn't have any trace of anger in his eyes, either. Had he already forgiven her? Maybe she was being obvious again. "Where's Undyne...?"

"on her way back. better watch out for spears, kid, she's cranky," Sans grinned.

" _Oh_ -Oops." She put on a big sheepish grin, and then immediately stopped. He might notice that she was missing a tooth, if it was wide enough.

"...so, uh, where did you go anyway?"

The child looked at them, and then imagined them behind the bars of an electronic cell. She imagined them in hospital gowns, afraid, afraid in much the same way as Papyrus had been when he got his memories back. Maybe angry, too, the way Sans had been. She imagined them like this and her heart trembled. "I went... I went exploring, but..."

"... kid, you okay?"

"ARE THEY HURT? I CAN HEAL THEM!"

A huge lump formed in her throat. _Be cool, be cool, Frisk._ "D ...d'you... wanna hear a joke?"

Sans shrugged, "sure."

"HUMAN NO."

Frisk swallowed the lump, "Knock knock."

Papyrus threw up his hands as Sans replied, with a quizzical expression, "who's there?"

Frisk grabbed at her locket. "I'm."

"i'm who?"

She tried to laugh, "You're Sans, silly-!" but her voice broke off. And that broken voice turned into a sob. And that sob turned into tears. And the next thing she knew she was, for the second time that day, crying too hard to stop.

"NYEH-! HUMAN!"

"woah - uh - d-don't cry kid, the joke wasn't that bad." Both of them had to take a second, the sight utterly new to them.

In front of them, Frisk had begun to say in a cracking, gasping, voice, desperately wiping at her eyes, "I'm s-sorry! I'm s-so sorry!"

The brothers exchanged glances, Papyrus scooping the child up in a hug that she seemed unable to respond to. Sans shivered and looked around at where they were standing. "i, uh, i'm getting the feeling that maybe they found out."

"FOUND OUT? FOUND OUT WHAT? ... OH!" He started hugging Frisk tighter and patting her on the back, his face growing panicked. "T-THAT'S BAD."

But the child squirmed in his grip and raised her arms, clinging to him in a hug back. "I'm... so... sorry...! Sh.. shouldn't be... crying...!"

Sans sighed. If he had known she was going to go off and do it like that, he would have just told her himself. "... geeze, frisk... i told you it wasn't a story to tell to kids. now look'it ya."

"... but.." Frisk whimpered. "you were... kids too..."

That elicited a silence from them, a few beads of sweat appearing on both their skulls. Papyrus patiently kept patting the child on the back, and slowly she was getting quieter. "aw, c'mon, it's like i told papyrus. we're both older than that now."

"Y-YES, HUMAN. WE'RE NOT... WE'RE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE. AFTER ALL, BACK THEN I WAS... UM, AND NOW I'M THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH - HEH. THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS FINE! AND SANS... WELL, SANS IS JUST A TERRIBLE COMEDIAN."

"not helping me, pap."

Frisk moved to get down and Papyrus gently set her down on her feet. She threw her arms around Sans too. Her breathing still hitched, she said quietly, "I love you guys."

"-back at ya, kiddo."

"WE LOVE YOU TOO HUMAN. ...SO PLEASE STOP DISOBEYING US SO MUCH!"

Frisk nodded when she let go. Although, even as she struggled to smile at them, she was afraid that that might end up happening anyway. She wasn't very good with promises either.

At least it was a welcome distraction when Undyne came back.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** One or Another

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Otherwise known as The Chapter With Lots and Lots of Ellipses.


	17. One or Another

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

The first thing that came out of Undyne's mouth was "Where the _hell_ have you been!?"

Frisk was starting to hiccup and tear back up again, almost from that question alone. She didn't know how to answer that at first, looking from Sans to Papyrus. Sans just shrugged at her, and Papyrus nodded while patting her head reassuringly. So, although she didn't entirely know if it was okay, that was surely a sign of approval from them. She took a deep breath and started talking.

And when she started talking, they started talking, until the sound of their talking became audible all over Hotland.

"uh kid-"

"-Cause Dr. Gaster made Sans and Papyrus in his lab like a really long time ago before he disappeared and he kept them in a cage and-"

"IT WAS VERY HORRIBLE HE DID SO MANY EXPERIMENTS-"

"he sure had a bone to pic-oof!"

"-So that the monsters could break the barrier and get above to the surface-"

"I USED TO THINK THAT MY SPECIAL ATTACKS WERE JUST BECAUSE OF HOW AMAZING I-"

"-Like do you know that guy Joseph Mengele from that history book, it's kind of like that only-"

"-BUT ACTUALLY IT WAS BECAUSE HE-"

"-sure left me _agast_ when i remembered-"

"-BUT I'M STILL-! DON'T WORRY UNDYNE, I'M STILL THE GREAT PAPY-"

"-And I didn't get to the end but I think when he fell in the _Core_ -"

"-FRISK STOP INTERRUPTING ME IT'S VERY RUDE!"

It went on this way for a bit, like letting air out of a balloon. But suddenly, in the middle of it, Undyne stabbed a spear into the gray ground with a thunderous crack, " _SHUT UP!_ " For the first time since Frisk had started blabbing, they all looked at her. She had turned a strange color, not her usual flustered or angry red. Her scales were all a shade paler. Immediately, the talking stopped. "..." Undyne pulled the spear out of the ground and marched away.

Frisk took off running after her. "Undyne!"

At her call, Undyne came to a stop. She rubbed the back of her head, threw a spear at a rock that only slightly cracked, and turned a little ways towards Frisk. She then looked behind the girl, and when Frisk turned too she saw Sans and Papyrus watching them both. Undyne then turned around completely and, as if suddenly the weight was too much, started to remove her armor in front of the child, looking up occasionally to glower. She tossed the pieces on the ground. "A mad scientist? Are you guys being serious right now!?"

"-Y-yeah... I mean. Sans isn't. Or maybe he is. But, yes." Frisk took a deep breath. "Why are you so mad?" Out of everyone affected here, she didn't expect the most explosive reaction from Undyne.

"Alphys KNEW about all this?"

Frisk's blood turned cold. "... She... I don't think that she... did? Why would she tell us how important it is to get Dr. Gaster back if she knew how bad it was going to be?"

"Yeah, well, this isn't the first time-!" Undyne huffed as she unstrapped her breastplate, holding it between both hands. "How did those two get out after Gaster fell into the Core?"

"Um?"

"Somebody had to have let them out."

Frisk looked back at Sans and Papyrus. "How-how _did_ you guys-?"

Papyrus spoke, "...I DON'T. I DON'T REMEMBER. I DIDN'T REMEMBER BEING IN TRUE LAB AT ALL." Sans, too, shrugged.

"Somebody had to have let them out," Undyne insisted, "And the next person to go into True Lab, that was Alphys wasn't it? So even if she didn't know _at the time,_ she had to have found out. She's smart! She had to have known what happened! She had to have found the things he left behind!" Undyne unstrapped her shin guards and threw them at the ground so hard that Frisk worried they would crack. "And she didn't say _anything!_ "

"heyyy, i didn't even think of that." Sans' eyes had gone dark again.

"... It's always..." Undyne wasn't looking at anyone now, a big snarl wrinkling her face. "One thing or another... with her... God _dammit_!" The last metal boot came off her foot and she threw it off into the distance, where it disappeared with a rattling of metal.

Frisk frowned, mumbling, "Don't be mad at Alphys."

"Don't tell me who or who not to be mad at, kid!" Undyne snapped.

Frisk stuck her tongue out at her, and then the next thing she knew Undyne was pulling her into a headlock and her fist was rubbing her head hard. "Eeek!"

"WHAT!? THE HECK!? DID YOU JUST DO!? DID YOU JUST MAKE THAT FACE AT ME!? DID! YOU! JUST MAKE! THAT FACE!?"

"Undynestop-" Frisk squirmed, although she was already laughing. In the next moment, Undyne released her and shoved her back, ruffling her hair. The child needed to take a second to smooth down all the strands that were sticking up. Meanwhile, Undyne spoke again, her volume lowered considerably, "You're right, though. I'm sure she's got an explanation. She's not the one that did all that, right? Even if she did do some other bad stuff..." Her expression was getting grim again.

There was a silence all around. Frisk looked from one monster to another, finding nothing good in any of their expressions.

He heart beat a little harder. She didn't think _this_ was going to be a result. "Y-you look tired, Undyne."

"... I AM tired. I've been out looking for YOU all day!" She punched Frisk's shoulder and the child rubbed it without a word, barely managing a small smile back at her. "You look tired too."

Frisk smiled a little more, but again remembered that now she couldn't make it too big. "...No, I'm not that tired. Actually!" She turned back. "I don't wanna just change the subject, but... Papyrus, I wanted to train with you before we go to bed, is that okay?"

For the first time in a while, she saw his face light up. "A-AH! OF COURSE, HUMAN! I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU RECOMMITTING YOURSELF TO IMPROVEMENT!"

The child nodded and smiled, again small.

Training was better than talking, anyway.

* * *

Well, I believe I've been sitting on the ground for long enough. Playing memories through my mind over and over won't give me anything useful. It's just difficult to pull myself back together.

The coffee machine I wedged into the reality spot should still be good for another batch. I'll drink a whole pot, at this rate. At least there are no more vines and other growth blocking my path, most of it having retreated by now. I have my suspicions about their cause.

Back to the computer, I guess.

Until I find more paper and writing utensils for field writing, I'll need to study the reality spots and make notations separately.

It's so hard to concentrate.

Back to business, these reality spots don't react to any magic I can use against them. The only thing that's clear is that by using them, many other things can be dragged through them into this plane of reality. Objects I can only barely interact with become easy to use once dragged into the reality spot, and if pulled outside it again become permanently real to this plane. A side effect of doing this is that, by varying amounts, the spot grows larger. I discovered this as I pulled the coffee machine into this reality, and bit by bit my computer. A living thing, entering into this spot, is apparently able to cross into this plane. But I don't know the circumstances in which Sans arrived. On a related note, reality spots around the Core, as I discovered, are the largest.

My working theory is that the larger or more "important" the object dragged here via reality spot, the larger the spot becomes. But this doesn't always hold up under testing; I am in part making this guess because the spots began from the Core, and that was the entrance point where the human and their friends came here, as well as where I reassembled. Unfortunately, I have only limited opportunities to test the theory. Given the circumstances I don't wish to widen the spots any more than absolutely necessary.

I also am curious if this is related to the ability of the humans to pull and draw monsters to their own reality. The spots don't correspond to anything the human does, at least not by my knowledge-the room where Arbogast was pulled through doesn't have any new ones, at least. But then, they didn't exist in the true reality, but other planes even farther removed from it.

For now I can only assemble data using the growing spots in the lab. When the coast is clear above, I'll start surveying spots over the rest of Hotland, if they have not begun sprouting in other areas by then.

Hopefully I will not run into much interference.

I'm distracted enough as it is.

I keep thinking... keep remembering things that I've lost.

The reason I'm working right now, though, it shouldn't be to bring any of those things back to me.

They're losing things too. The group above me in Hotland, and maybe even the monsters on the surface, in the true reality. I can't allow that. That's why I can't keep getting distracted.

Hmm...

Maybe I can bring a cigarette or two into this plane without it causing too much trouble.

* * *

 _You could have fought back a lot harder than that; in fact, you_ have _fought back to protect yourself a lot harder than that._

_This time around, were you too scared? You were just too sure you wouldn't win. The fear in your mind clogs your brain so that you can't think straight, but it was your downfall. You could have fought back a little harder, and that fear would have dissipated._

_It's better to fight back. If you died, without a pure SAVE file, you'd be unable to continue. But you wouldn't be able to True Reset, either. Resetting is impossible in this space; it's where lost things go, and lost things can't have the powers of a god. So you might just really die._

_Your disembodied SOUL would, at best, merge with a monster. That thought is more terrifying to you than any other._

_But it's fine. Even though you should be dead by now, you're not. Just like it has happened again and again. And now, you're asleep with your friends(?) and no one else will hurt you._

_Or, are you actually asleep right now? You're not actually sure what this is. It feels a little like floating through a black, syrup-like sea. You like syrup... you hope you get to have some when you get back home. Whenever that is. But tasting this doesn't yield any results. It just makes your tongue sticky._

_You do know one thing. It's very close._

_Yeah, it's very close by._

_Very close..._

_Close by..._

* * *

After a moment of struggling, Frisk's eyes opened. "Tori-... ... Mmmom...?" She said blearily. She blushed when she realized no one was around to hear it. It was one nightmare or another that woke her up, she didn't remember. At least, whichever one it was, it was over now.

Now, it was completely quiet except for the sound of Undyne snoring in another room. Only just hearing it, Frisk was instead staring at the cool grey walls of the hotel and realizing that she wasn't back home, for the sixth time since they arrived in this colorless world. The child sighed and curled up a little bit tighter, holding on to the abandoned hotel pillow like it was a life preserver. She sank deeper into her sweater and squeezed her eye shut. She might or might not be able to get back to sleep now. It was too bright in this room.

And even worse than that, those images that she had just left behind started to come back. One image or another. Frisk sniffed, and wiped her already sore eyes with her sleeve.

But there were noises beyond the room that disturbed her, and Frisk opened her lids again. "?" Those weren't the sounds of Papyrus snoring, or Sans, either. It wasn't an animal moving around somewhere in the true reality. It was talking. Was someone up other than her? Popping upright, Frisk wobbled to the door and cracked it open to hear it better. No, the voices weren't inside the hotel. She took off her shoes and crept out of her room, sneaking down to the entrance of the big crumbling building. She was able to hear better right before she had to open the big, creaky double door. There was a tiny gap between the bottom of the double doors and the floor, and through it she could look if she pressed herself down low enough.

Sans' slippered feet and Papyrus' big boots were within view, standing in front of the door. Frisk chewed on the inside of her cheek as she listened to their voices coming in through the cracks.

"...but guess there isn't a real way around it now that frisk found out, huh?"

"I WAS HOPING THEY WOULDN'T." To her relief, it was still the same boisterous all-caps voice Papyrus normally used, despite his attempts to keep down his volume. Frisk hoped she never again heard him with that weak voice he used on the day he came to this place. "I DON'T LIKE THEM THINKING OF ME THAT WAY." Frisk clapped her hands over her own mouth. "THAT... UN-PAPYRUS WAY."

"hey c'mon, i'm sure they're not thinking of you that way."

If she choked now, they would hear it.

"I DON'T LIKE THINKING OF MYSELF THAT WAY EITHER."

"..."

"I KNOW WHAT WE SAID TO FRISK BUT SANS-"

"hey, hey, take it easy, paps."

"I NEVER WANTED TO REMEMBER THOSE THINGS."

"i know, i know. i didn't want to either. we didn't need any of this. i mean when i first saw him, and everything came flooding back, i felt like..."

"YOU SAW HIM?"

There was silence. Frisk slowly got up, shuffling around the walls trying to find a peephole. "...shit, forgot i didn't tell you that part. yeah i ran into him. he was with frisk, but i got them away."

"HE WAS WITH FRISK?" There were a few cracks in the building, where patrons had tried to take pieces of it for souvenirs when it closed. Their voices came in through the cracks as easily as the door. "yeah, they didn't know what he was at the time." Frisk tried to put her eye to each one, although unable to find one with a good vantage point of the brothers. "WHAT DID HE DO? WHAT WAS HE LIKE?"

"he was the same. maybe a little weaker, but i don't know what that was about."

"AND FRISK IS OKAY?"

"… no, papyrus, he cut their head off didn't you notice?"

"SANS YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"

"sorry. yeah, he didn't do anything to 'em. he wanted to, though. kept trying to tell me that their SOUL was the only way we're getting out of here. so," Scooting continually to the left, Frisk finally found a peephole, one that gave her a view of Papyrus and a little of Sans. He was shrugging as he said, "that's how i know he hasn't changed."

"OH..." Papyrus shook his head. "WELL, IF THAT'S TRUE, I DON'T WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN."

Sans' head bowed a little bit. "yeah. hopefully you won't have to."

"IT WOULD BRING EVERYTHING BACK. BUT EVEN MORE. AND-"

"...yeah. i know what you mean. i have enough on my mind most days without this too."

"HE CAN'T... DO WHAT HE DID BACK THEN, RIGHT?"

"-nah. nah, he can't do anything if we don't let him. _i_ won't let him."

"YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN PROTECT HIMSELF, YOU KNOW! I'VE HAD A LOT MORE TRAINING THAN YOU!"

"heh, yeah i know..."

There was a long silence. Frisk wiped at her eyes and thought back to - what she presumed - was yesterday, those moments in the lab. Some of the things they were saying... It wasn't true. He hadn't killed her like he supposedly wanted. Knowing that, she wanted to walk in on Sans and Papyrus. Just clear her throat and say that they didn't need to be so afraid now, didn't need to keep... but for some reason, she couldn't summon her voice.

She was imagining them being sawed open again.

She sank down below her temporary peephole.

She heard something new as she sat there. "...BUT... I'M SORRY I FORGOT."

"eh?"

"I'M SORRY I FORGOT ABOUT ALL THE TIMES THAT YOU HELPED ME. YOU ACTUALLY WEREN'T THAT LAZY AFTER ALL."

More silence. "...well, i... you made it a lot easier to keep going too, y'know?"

"THAT WAS BECAUSE I HAD YOU AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"and you always will. just, uh, wish we didn't have to think about all the painful things along with that. you think if we go back home without him, those'll disappear?"

"... ... ...YES, BUT... ..."

"you don't wanna leave without him?"

"... ...WELL IT WOULD MAKE ALPHYS UPSET."

"alphys i could care less ab-"

"-AND IT... FEELS WRONG TO DO THAT."

And another sigh. "well as to that, something tells me the kid would agree with you. if it comes down to it, i might get outvoted. i'm not _worried_ about it comin' down to anything at this rate, but, uh, you'll know where my vote is if it does."

"SANS!"

"i'm more surprised at your vote than i think you should be at mine."

"SANS." Frisk wiped her eyes with both hands. She stood up straight and looked through the peephole again, but neither of the two were visible through it now. She scrambled to find another while Papyrus spoke, "...MAYBE WE CAN ASK UNDYNE TO DEAL WITH HIM INSTEAD?"

"-hold up."

Frisk stopped moving, holding her breath.

"iiiii think i'm gonna go take a nap. gettin' tired."

The child's heart beat wildly into her ears, filling up the quiet. _Oh no, oh no, oh no._ She stumbled away, turned tail, and skidded back to her room as softly as she could.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Looking Back


	18. Looking Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, there is a bit of swearing in this chapter! 0O0/ So be warned.

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

"hey kid."

Frisk didn't sleep one iota after making it back into bed. She almost did, a few times. But overall, her heart was moving miles too fast and that made her unable to drift off. She also kept shooting up when she heard a creak near her room, waiting for the moment Sans would come in and let her know that yeah he heard her moving around back there and what business did she have listening in on other people's conversations exactly?

But she ended up waiting for hours, and eventually her eyelids were just starting to close, when finally she saw Sans appear out of thin air, standing over her with that chill expression and tired eyes and the quiet greeting that made her nearly jump out of her skin. Frisk sat up straight, looking around to see if Papyrus was with him, but she didn't see anyone else. She waved at Sans.

Sans put his hands in his pockets. "say, frisk, did you happen to wake up at all during the, well, let's call it night?"

Her pale and sweaty face was surely already telling him everything. She nodded.

"okay, cool. so did you just take a walk or somethin'?" He shrugged. "maybe eavesdrop on other people's private conversations?"

Frisk shook her head.

"no, huh?" Sans came closer with his big grin and Frisk plastered a bigger one on her face, growing bigger the closer he got. "are you sure about that kid? are you sure about that are you sure abo-?" Breaking off, he went back and then forward again. That smile fell a fraction while he tried to get a better look. Frisk closed her mouth, taking a deep breath of air. "uhh, kiddo, are you missing one of your teeth?"

Frisk shook her head quickly, giving a shakier, much smaller smile. Sans shook his head, "c'mon we both know that's not the whole _tooth_ , kid."

She'd done it now. "I knocked it out accidentally," the child said in a hushed voice. "And then I ate Papyrus's pie and forgot about it."

"you knocked it out... accidentally?"

"No I just lied to you." Frisk curled up on the floor and covered her face with her sleeves. "Uh, uh, uh, I was in True Lab right? and after I found out about you two I ran into Dr. Gaster-" She heard Sans make a sound, but it wasn't any words, so she kept going, "-And he was trying to take my SOUL like you told me he would but-"

"i told you not to-"

"But after that I passed out and when I woke up he hadn't killed me and he gave me coffee and you're both wrong you're both wrong about this and I'm really sorry and also I spit my tooth out at some point during all that!" Her lungs exhausted, she took a deep breath and then stopped completely. Her pulse was making cuckoo noises in her ears, and when it faded back there wasn't anything, not even Undyne's snoring.

"what?"

Frisk cringed. When she blinked, the fibers of her sweater irritated her eyes. "I think my tooth came loose 'cause my face kept hitting the wall," She warbled.

"frisk you know you're not allowed to have coffee."

"I'm sure he had his reasons for giving me coffee!" She finally uncovered her eyes. "Y-you're missing the point...!"

But she wished she'd stayed without looking. The expression on Sans' face right now was... so hard for her to describe, it made her feel sick inside. "nah. don't worry. i heard you."

"... I..." She stood up. "...I overheard you guys talking. I lied to you again."

"ya gotta stop doing that, kid."

"I heard you say that D-Dr. Gaster hasn't changed, but - but I think he is different, or at least not how you said he is. He _could_ have killed me, and he said that he needed my SOUL, but he didn't _take_ it. And I don't think it was because of just me, either. He asked about... you guys, too."

Papyrus was peeking in through the doorway. Maybe Undyne was also listening from somewhere.

Sans' expression didn't change, and he said, "but he still knocked your tooth out?"

Subconsciously Frisk felt along the empty gum. "Yeah and then he gave me coffee."

He shook his head. "so. not as big of an asshole as he could have been. that's what you're going with?"

It was a good thing that Frisk already knew what that word meant. She sank back "I... I know the things he did were terrible." Her voice faltered. "I'm not saying that you have to... I... I know how it feels. I still have nightmares too, sometimes." Frisk looked down, picking at her fingers and frowning.

From before her, she only heard, "huh?"

She started to frown even more as she mumbled, "A couple months after we all made it up to the surface, I mean, I started to have them almost every night. Nightmares like... like those times when I fought Mettaton or As... sgore." Frisk stuck her hands in her pockets and shrugged, "I told Toriel about them and she said it was because of how much I went through. She said they'd go away. But, I still have them sometimes. Like when she's not around, or something like that." Like out here, in this world without color.

"how come you never said anything before, kid?"

Without knowing why, Frisk wiped her eyes. "I just didn't-didn't know how to bring it up." Stubbornly, she shook her head and shut her eyes tight. "It's not anyone else's problem, I just. I just meant, I know how it feels. W-when you can't help but keep thinking about it. But," she took a deep breath, but she was getting quieter by the word, "I'm not saying you have to stop, or that you have to forgive him, or like him, or forget what happened because, because I can't even do any of that, but I still think - I- I still think that if he's changed, we have to try, or-" Another deep breath, "Because everyone working together, that's, um, how you, um, I don't know, it's-it's how you get the best end-"

"kid."

"I AGREE WITH THE HUMAN!" Sans looked back, as if he only now realized that Papyrus was there. "IF THERE'S REALLY A CHANCE THAT FRISK GOT THROUGH TO HIM, THEN THAT MEANS WE JUST HAVE TO TRY HARDER!" It was a typical Papyrus thing to say, even if he didn't look that certain saying it.

And Frisk was still mumbling, somewhere beyond range of hearing. Closing his eyes for a moment, Sans gave a bigger sigh and stopped the child mid-sentence, patting her on the head like a dog. "eh. i give up."

She opened her eyes. "Sans?"

"i said i was gonna get outvoted," he said. "oh, well." Beside Papyrus, Undyne also peeked into view at last, holding a spear and spear polish in her hands. "i'm not at where you're at, kid. but it doesn't matter." He shrugged, and as Frisk blinked at him he said, "you guys can do what you want. i won't stop ya."

"..." She tried looking at him from another angle, but he followed her and matched her tilted head. "what? you want more from me? i don't have any more. i said you can do what you want. i don't care."

"Oh, I-" Frisk brought her hands out and fumbled, "O-o-okay. Thanks-thank you, Sans." Somehow, it felt even worse than when he was mad. But hadn't she already decided this was a good thing? Or, at least, a better thing. She couldn't just go back on that. She took a deep breath and walked past him. "I'll be back soon?"

"EH? WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"D-down to True Lab."

"OH." Frisk stood in front of him now with an uneasy smile, and then she began to walk past him too. Because of course that's where she was going. But what she didn't expect was that Papyrus started to walk after her too. "NYEH-HEH, FRISK! IF YOU'RE GOING BACK THERE, YOU SHOULD HAVE SOMEONE WITH YOU!"

"Papyrus, you don't need to..."

He took her hand as she was talking. "W-WELL, I CAN AT LEAST STAND GUARD IF YOU NEED ANYTHING SO YOU DON'T LOSE MORE TEETH! UNDYNE, CAN I BORROW YOUR PHONE?"

"No you _can't_ have my phone and here's why-"

While Undyne was lecturing, putting her armor back on, Frisk looked back at Sans, who only stared at her with dark eyes and a low smile on his face. She hid her hands in her sleeves.

* * *

The good news is that I've finally got paper, a clipboard, and utensils to write with so I am not tied to the computer. But there is bad news, as well. My experimenting with the reality spots has led to some disturbing new results.

I wanted to see if it was possible for things done inside a reality spot to carry over to areas outside of it; this meant specifically my using magic on objects around my office while I was firmly located in the true reality. For this experiment, I used one of the magic emitters, for the most potent effect, and aimed it at the bare wall so as not to do too much damage.

Now, the results of this test, relevant to what I was testing, were that the magic I fired did indeed impact the alternate plane of reality, which wasn't too surprising. These patches are not isolated in any way, but where the two planes are merging together.

But something else happened, which I don't adequately know how to explain. The spot began to react violently immediately after I made the blast with the emitter. It fizzed and moved with a kind of electricity, one that proved painful to the touch, before demonstrably moving inwards. The edges of the spot, as well, have turned black. I have no idea what this means. Something about these pockets do not like the use of magic.

I have the strangest feeling that they're... sentient, in this way. Obviously corruptions in the code cannot be sentient, but even scientific work involves gut feelings on occasion.

I am becoming increasingly curious about what would happen if someone on the other side could pull us out the way that other objects have been pulled in. If the pockets are "sentient," would they desire to entrap or set free? Would they "care" either way?

But the only person nearby that could attempt that is the flower, and I doubt that I could procure his assistance. He only responds to the human, if he responds at all, and I-

There are sounds. Someone is knocking on the door.

If it's the human-

I swear to god, if it's the human knocking on my door.

...

The human looks up at me with a smile. Not a normal one, of course. A scared one, an expression that I recognize. More to the point, what are they doing here? I thought we had an understanding-

_Shit._

* * *

Frisk thought Papyrus wasn't going to follow her inside, and with everything he said yesterday she certainly didn't blame him for that, but she didn't stop him when she realized that's what he was doing.

So that he wouldn't worry, she told him everything that had happened before. How Dr. Gaster asked about them, how he stopped after she told him about their fights together. It made Papyrus proud.

But she was getting worried when she knocked, the translator app open and Papyrus nearby, on the entrance to that darker part of True Lab. She was worried as Papyrus became worried too. She didn't want him to have a fit again. She couldn't take that.

And then the door opened, and Frisk smiled a little bigger. "Hi!"

Dr. Gaster caught sight of Papyrus, who caught sight of Dr. Gaster.

Nobody was saying anything. Papyrus started to tremble, and Frisk could almost see a bead of sweat on Dr. Gaster, although he was not moving an inch from where he stood. His posture was, likewise, completely relaxed. That didn't seem to help Papyrus any.

But then they all heard Undyne snarl, not too far away, "HEY BONEHEAD! I've got my eye on you, so if you touch either of them I'm gonna bash your skull in! Don't forget it!"

"... _Um_."

And then Papyrus started talking. "THAT'S JUST UNDYNE! DON'T WORRY, SHE TRIED TO BASH FRISK'S FACE IN TOO WHEN THEY FIRST MET AND NOW WE'RE ALL FRIENDS!"

" _Papyrus_ stop undermining me!"

While Dr. Gaster stood there, looking from Undyne to his former test subject, Papyrus extended a hand to him, which he stared at. "WE WERE HOPING WE COULD BE FRIENDS TOO! WELL, IT WAS KIND OF FRISK'S IDEA, BUT-"

" _F- **Friends**?_ "

He'd taken a step back, recoiling, as if the red gloved hand in front of him was a snake ready to strike, or as if the other skeleton had said something painful. Frisk could offer nothing; this seemed to be, in spite of everything, Papyrus' moment.

And he frowned, but when he smiled again it didn't falter. "YES! WE'RE ALL IN THIS PLACE TOGETHER, AFTER ALL, AND IT'S BETTER TO BE FRIENDS THAN ENEMIES."

When Gaster spoke everything he said, even when it came first in wingding, sounded as if it was rattling, "- _You you want me to be to be friends with you?_ "

"I THINK SO! IN FACT, LOOKING BACK..." Papyrus smiled. "I'VE BEEN WANTING THAT FROM THE START!"

" _What_ "

He couldn't stop, Papyrus couldn't stop. He kept talking as if he knew stopping would invite in other thoughts. "A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENED THAT MADE THAT HARD, I GUESS?" Because for one moment he faltered, face hesitant, but quickly recovered with a smile. "BUT I THINK THINGS CAN BE DIFFERENT NOW! FRISK TOLD ME SO, AND I THINK SO TOO! EVEN IF SANS DOESN'T THINK SO, THAT'S NOT NEW FOR HIM, SO, UH, FORGET ABOUT THAT. THINGS CAN DEFINITELY BE DIFFERENT!" Papyrus continued, talking on even as Dr. Gaster started to shake. "IF YOU WANT THEM TO BE."

" _..._ "

* * *

Shit.

Fuck.

Damn it!

You _idiot_.

You don't want me as a friend.

You're just as stupid as you were back then.

It's obvious why your brother isn't here, he's smart enough to understand what a mistake you're making.

Maybe you don't remember all of it...?

It's impossible for you make this offer and yet remember all the times that I turned it down in the past, and without mercy. You're either failing to remember things right or you're lying. Maybe you're doing both.

Why did you come down here?

What are you expecting?

I'm not going to be your friend.

You stupid, stupid, stupid ch...

* * *

" _...Y... you... I..._ "

Whatever Dr. Gaster was thinking, it wasn't coming out in words very well.

"IT'S OKAY! TAKE YOUR TIME!"

" _S-shut up!_ " He pressed his hands over his face, taking a deep breath.

It wasn't a good thing to say. Papyrus was already looking uncertain; now he needed to take a deep breath too. While he was, however, he felt something close around his hand and he looked down to see Frisk there, giving him a big smile. Undyne, too, had stepped closer, silently punching a fist into her hand with a big smile on her face.

Dr. Gaster wasn't looking in their direction. But, brokenly, he started to speak. " _If you mean... working together to get out of this plane... I can do that._ "

Papyrus' face lit up. "REALLY?!"

" _Yes, I can-_ "

"OH YAY! I KNEW IT! I KNEW THAT I COULD DO IT SOMEDAY!"

" _Stop-_ "

"AFTER ALL, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT JUST, UH, TOOK ME WAY LONGER THAN I EXPECTED!"

" _Papyr-_ "

"I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL SANS!"

" _..._ "

"I'M SO RELIEVED, FOR A MOMENT THERE-"

". _... ..._ "

For the moment, it seemed like everything was going to turn out okay. Frisk also let out a breath she'd been holding, starting to tune out while Papyrus continued on above her. She texted Sans: _Everything is going ok with pap_

He didn't text her back. Well, things could be better. But at least Papyrus looked happy again.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Backdrop of Black


	19. Backdrop of Black

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

It's uncomfortable, but so far I have been able to make do working together with the monsters aboveground.

However the only one worth sharing my notes with, at this time, is Sans. This presents an obvious problem because, as expected, he has not forgiven the past in the bizarre way that Papyrus and the human have. The best that I have been able to do is pass notes, in the form of my research data, over to him with no commentary. The human, and sometimes Papyrus, bring them back to me with his own commentary included.

His penmanship is awful, even worse than it was back when I first knew him. I suspect that he is writing terribly on purpose, as one of several immature jabs at me that he has taken since we've met again. Since I suspect he wishes to do much worse, I'll allow it. There are insights enclosed in his remarks as well, after all. His intellect has grown since we last knew each other, and by a considerable amount.

Among other things he has given me more information about the human and their "abilities." Specifically, in addition to what I have described of their ability to attract and pull in monsters from the other planes of reality, they apparently possess a power to "Save," as described by Sans. The ability to go back in time, a power that none should be able to possess.

If they have that ability, though, then why...?

At any rate, it feels familiar. When I was shattered, I recall encountering an anomaly like this. As I was fragmented across several spaces, I wasn't affected by disruptions in the timestream the way that the true reality would be. I saw time stopping and starting, rewinding, at odd intervals. There was a figure at the center of it. Somehow, was that figure the child that's been running around? No... that doesn't seem right. It doesn't match what little memory I have of that time in my existence. I need more information on this power.

Speaking of the human...

They have taken our "alliance" as license to ask me all sorts of questions whenever they show up. I prefer them when they're quiet and trying everything in their power to not speak... I don't have the energy for all of their inquiries, and curious children give me a headache. Again, for example, they asked me to teach them how to sign, and again I said no. They asked me about more of my relationships, and I only answered a little. They asked if I'm "technically" the only skeleton monster around, which I have given no response to even now. They asked me if it was possible for them to learn how to speak like I do, and I told them to get out.

When they caught me smoking, they asked if I was going to get lung cancer from doing it. I pointed out I do not have lungs. They then asked me how I was able to breathe in the smoke.

I pointed out it was a magic cigarette.

They asked me if I was going to get magic lung cancer.

* * *

The child hadn't dropped by in a while, although doubtless they were on their way to ask yet another question or give him a note. Dr. Gaster was busy reading through the last one that they'd handed him. But even as he read, he was becoming aware of something creeping nearby, inside the laboratory.

"...?"

When he looked up, he could easily see the vines overtaking the ceiling. He frowned, annoyed, and watched as the creature that belonged to those vines appeared soon after, popping up from the ground as though it were nothing but soil. The flower monster, which may not be a monster at all. He had a darker expression on his face than the one he wore before, more sadistic than he remembered.

Whatever he was playing at, Dr. Gaster was not in the mood.

But he remembered that, outside of this plane as he was, Flowey wasn't affected by any of his attacks.

The little flower bobbed, "It's me, Flowey! Did you miss me?"

Dr. Gaster spoke while returning to the papers in front of him, not giving the creature the satisfaction of his attention; as he spoke, his psychic hands signed, "No."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that~," the flower began.

But before another cheery word could come out Gaster was already talking, "Would you be willing to help me with an experiment?"

The creature's voice became rougher, "I don't like experiments. _No_ , I'm not interested."

This time he did look at him for a moment, "Even one that could help you get your friend back to your plane of reality?"

The flower laughed. "Not even then. Y'see, it doesn't really _matter_ to me if Frisk is here or there. When they're there, they're boring, but when they're here, they just leave." With big teeth, he grinned. So uncanny on a plant. "So why would I help them get here?"

"I see." So that was probably a dead end for now. "Then go back to wherever it is you came from."

"But there's nothing interesting back there," Flowey continued. "I'd much rather stay here!"

"I'd rather you go."

"Well, you don't really have a choice, do you?" The overgrowth was creeping over the ceiling and walls. It had already forced the door open, and it was probably overtaking more of True Lab elsewhere.

Gaster tensed, if only a little, and then began to write. "What do you want?"

"I'm just taking stock of things," Flowey said. "At first, you know, I couldn't figure out what kind of monster you were. You're pretty different from how you were back then, that's for sure! Or maybe I'm just not remembering right, hehe!"

"We've never met."

"Maybe we haven't! But still..." Before he even noticed, Flowey had scaled the wall and come back into his sight. In response, Gaster avoided gazing in his direction, even though he could still see out of the corner of his eye. "I think I've got you all figured out now."

"Have you?"

"Of course! After all, there's no use pretending with me! I  k n o w  w h a t  y o u  a r e." Flowey's voice got rougher and rougher, changing into something else. "I know what you do. Because I do the same thing."

"..."

His hands paused in mid air, signing nothing. But there was a sound in the silence. Encouraged by it, "We even do it with the same people! Hehe!"

Gaster had stopped writing, the pen digging into the same space. "To what are you referring?"

" _You can pretend that things have changed, but we know they haven't._ " The flower was too close. "I read it all. When they were helpless, when they had nobody, that's when you showed your true self. But... now that they're stronger, now that they have everyone. Now that there are _consequences_... at least, so it _looks_... you won't do anything." The smile on his face was jagged and dark. "I've done the same thing. I'll hold off... until I get a _chance_."

"..."

"You're more interesting than Frisk, at this rate. That brat that cares too much. I'm waiting for you to understand," he leered in close, "And I think you'll understand faster than they're going to understand. There still _aren't_ any consequences. So you don't have to pretend..."

"Bad Flowey!"

A wadded up piece of paper smacked the flower, going straight through him, and he let out an irritated hiss. He twisted around and saw Frisk, who began wadding up another piece of paper. "If you're not being helpful then go away!"

She tossed the second wad at him and he ducked easily, scowling. "Then why don't you go away? You're being useless as usual."

"I mean it Flowey!"

Flowey smiled. "Your threats are empty." His smile grew worse, again, a toothy skull framed with petals. "You think just because you can reset whenever something goes wrong, you're the arbiter of everything. But now you can't reset, so what importance do you have? You can't even actually hit me wit-" He was cut off mid-sentence by a wad of paper flying through his face. His smile fell and he growled, as Frisk began to wad up her last sheet, "Fine. I won't stay where I'm not wanted. See you around, Frisk. Or, at this rate, maybe not." With that, he disappeared again into the ground.

Slowly, the overgrowth retreated.

The child scurried past Dr. Gaster bent to pick up the pieces of paper, rubbing her nose and resisting sniffing. _Dumb flower._ She was aware that the skeleton was also in the room, and was probably looking at her, but she didn't say anything to him yet. She was smoothing out the pieces of paper.

" _What are you waiting for_?" Frisk jumped; in her pocket, the phone crackled with his voice.

She took it out and looked up, smiling. "I thought you wouldn't want me to say anything."

He lit a cigarette. They must not have heard much. " _That depends on what you want to say, doesn't it?"_

"Oh, well, um, I'm sorry about Flowey," she said, rubbing her eyes. "Sans doesn't believe me, but he's getting better... but he's still bad."

At that, Dr. Gaster frowned and turned back to the computer. He typed something out that Frisk couldn't read. " _Your behavior is beginning to make sense_."

"I don't know what you mean by that," slow to approach, Frisk set the papers down at the desk and weighted them with her phone as she spoke. "But these are supposed to go to you." While Dr. Gaster reached out a hand and slid the notes over, the child continued softly, "Can I ask you something?"

" _No._ "

"Please?"

He sighed. " _You can ask me something if you can satisfactorily answer a question of mine._ "

"How do I answer something satis _fact_ orily?"

When hearing him sigh again, resting his head on one hand, she couldn't help but grin a little bit. His hand didn't obscure much of his expression when it had a hole in it. The urge to stick her hand in that hole got stronger every day. " _I want information on something. Tell me about your ability to SAVE. As well as the 'resetting' that flower mentioned._ "

The grin fell from Frisk's face. "Oh. Did... Sans tell you about saving?"

" _Yes._ "

"Oh."

In the stretch of silence that followed, she heard him say, " _Take your time._ " A laugh escaped her. But she was expressionless, looking elsewhere. Her locket clinked against her teeth.

Finally, she mumbled, "It's hard to explain."

He rubbed a temple. " _If I am understanding correctly, you can go back in time? Start with that._ "

"I guess," Frisk said as she shrugged. "That's when I 'reset'. I go back to the point where I last SAVED. Oh," she took a deep breath, "when I SAVE, that's-that's like when-when I... it's kind of like... you take a snapshot in your head and... If I die or I reset, then I go back to that point where I last did it. Like when you remember something. But, it's like the whole world remembers it with you."

" _But no one remembers it except for you._ "

"... Riiight." Frisk gave a sheepish smile. "Well."

Dr. Gaster was writing. He wasn't smiling back. " _And you can only go back to the last time you SAVED?_ "

Frisk mumbled something else, and Gaster frowned, speaking louder, " _What?_ "

"If I tried hard enough... I could go back to the very beginning to when I first got this way. When I fell underground," she said, her voice trudging along while she looked back at the ground. "... Theoretically, I mean."

" _So you... haven't done it?_ "

"Nope. I only reset to where I SAVE," so saying, she looked back up with a smile. "So if anything ever goes wrong, I can make it right."

Dr. Gaster scoffed, blowing out smoke, " _In other words, if something doesn't go your way you can turn back the clock and force it to._ "

"Oh my _god_!" The child shot upright. "Don't say it like that!" Hands in her pockets, she glared at him with narrow eyes. "I'd never reset unless it was an emergency! Like if someone died, or, or-or pretty much, if someone died. Or if I died."

Dr. Gaster raised an eyebrow. " _...How many times_ have _you died?_ "

Frisk smiled at him, but it was a different kind than what she kept giving him before. It looked more like the kind Sans wore. "I lost count, back when I was first underground."

" _... How old did you say you were then?_ "

"And besides, saving is hard," she continued, speaking faster. "I can't do it all the time, only in certain places. I can't do it at all when I'm not under the mountain. Resetting is easier, but if I reset when I haven't SAVED in a while, I'd lose everything I did, so. Don't say it like that."

His pen kept going and then stopped. " _What certain places? Are there any places here?"_

"Oh, I." Frisk scratched the back of her head. "I can't do it here. I haven't been able to, at least... I can't reset here either."

" _You have tried to reset, then?_ "

She nodded.

" _What happened?_ "

"I dunno. I just couldn't do it."

Sitting back in his chair, Gaster blew more smoke as he thought. " _... If it's this plane of reality that you can't reset in, perhaps you can still reset in the true reality."_

The child cocked her head in his direction, holding her arm behind her back. "Yeah, but what good does that do?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, " _Does it not occur to you that the place is covered with pockets of the true reality as they leak in? Have you tried resetting in them?_ "

 _Oh._ Frisk smiled big and didn't say anything for a second. "...I just now realized your glasses are taped on."

Putting out his half-finished cigarette, Dr. Gaster stood up and walked past the child, " _Come on._ "

* * *

The child keeps talking to me as we leave, not even to ask where we're going.

Saving, according to them, does not just apply to time travel. It also could apply to monsters. Although only in special circumstances, according to them, it was possible to "restore" souls using the same mechanic by which they reset the timeline. With their own memories of the monster. I wonder if this is related to them pulling the monsters up from the other planes of reality, or how I seemed to be restored.

But that wouldn't make sense. The human has no prior memories of those monsters in particular or of myself, so they couldn't be drawing on anything in the way they describe.

Another thing that I don't understand still is the timeline of things, putting all the time travel aside for a moment. When I was shattered, I felt the phenomenon of time stopping and starting for quite a long time before the year that Frisk fell underground. If they only got their power at that moment, who was the one causing all these irregularities? When I ask the human about it they don't provide me with an answer.

I suppose these are questions that can be ironed out later.

I'd like to test their reset ability in an open space, so I brought us outside of the lab to find one of the spots in Hotland.

Somehow, I can't help thinking of that idiotic flower. At this stage, I refuse to let it get under my skin, so to speak, with someone trying like them to analyze me, but even so...

It's something I've already thought about.

There's a reasonably sized spot that the human steps into, which will be adequate for our current exercise. I'm not certain they will succeed. It will be too rich if the answer was standing right in front of them the entire time and they were too clueless to even notice until I pointed it out.

Even so, while the human seems eager to try the experiment, I need to get something out of the way first.

* * *

" _Human. Frisk,_ " hearing her name coming from his mouth, Frisk's attention was piqued. She paused and looked up, her eyes questioning. " _If this does work, or if you find some other means to take yourself back into the true reality, promise me something._ "

Frisk tilted her head and nodded. "?"

" _Leave me behind, if possible._ "

The child's face twisted into a grimace. "I don't wanna promise that."

He grimaced back _and_ then quickly masked it. " _Promise me. That is the only way that the things I've done can be... in some way, changed. So if possible, promise me you will not take me back._ "

"But if I don't take you back, Alphys will get upset..."

He snorted. " _I doubt that._ "

"Why?" But he didn't reply to her, not even when she asked him again. Her bravery through speech was exhausted with Dr. Gaster at this point. So with a neutral expression, Frisk said with her hands behind her back, "... I promise. I don't think I'll have control over it, but I promise."

Dr. Gaster exhaled. " _Good. Now, try to reset._ "

Frisk nodded, taking on a determined expression.

Usually, there was no special pose or gesture she had to assume in order to reset. With her dying breaths, the child had reset. Even when she was sure she was dead, she had reset. In the blink of an eye, the world she'd SAVED would flood her mind and her surroundings, overtaking the darkness and taking away her pain if she was ever in any. Sometimes if she wanted to be dramatic about it she could do something.

She was too tired to be dramatic. She was just nervous. She closed her eyes.

_You tried to access your SAVE file._

"-!"

The strangled cry she gave was the first indicator that something was wrong.

_You can feel your SAVE file within reach._

_STOP YOU IDIOT._

The world started flashing colors and fizzing, or maybe it was just the spot that she stood in. White bursts overtook her vision and body and she let out another yelp, this one louder.

**\- 1 HP**

**\- 1 HP**

**\- 1 HP**

**\- 10 HP**

Dots swam in front of Frisk's eyes and the chaos stopped, the world at least becoming still if not returning to normal. But on the other hand, the pocket of reality she was standing in was changing, turning black at the borders and growing inward. The child looked up at Dr. Gaster with a sharp breath, unable to speak. He, too, was staring in shock. All around him were white pixels and discolored pieces of the air.

"Oo.. oops," Frisk uttered. At the borders of the spot, darkness that was encroaching from the ground rose into the air. The blackness reached her feet and then swam up her body in a stream. The child shivered violently, the substance cold and like syrup, clinging to her skin. Dr. Gaster was writing quickly on the clipboard he carried, or at least he was before he was obscured from her view. Frisk swallowed, her throat dry. "Uh-uh-"

" _This is very interesting. The spot is reacting more violently than when I-_ "

He was saying, the phone voice faint before suddenly cutting off.

_Why aren't you pulling me out of here already oh my god_

"Help," she croaked. The blackness closed over Frisk's face and she couldn't see anymore.

Or breathe.

Or think.

* * *

Dr. Gaster looked up, seeing no more sign of the human now. The entire reality spot, and the air it encompassed, had turned a solid black. Like a pillar rising through Hotland.

Experimentally, he called out, "... ... ... _Frisk?_ "

But there was no reply.

Something very new was happening, though, which was just as good. On the backdrop of black, something that wasn't visible before became brightly colored and defined.

A child stood upright, looking right at Dr. Gaster with a resting smile on their rosey-cheeked face.

"-Oh. Greetings," when the child spoke, their mouth didn't move. "...No," they smiled wider, exposing their teeth, and said, "Rather, it's a pleasure to see you again."

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking at the latest Handplates update at the time of my posting this, Frisk asking about the cigarettes in this chapter is kind of even funnier to me. :P


	20. Memory

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 27/40

G 10

* * *

A small child ran along late in the day, pulled by the hand through Hotland. Leading them everywhere was their new best friend, a smile on his face. Because he was smiling, the whole time they were smiling too. It was a long day they were having. Recent memories in their mind were being turned over and over, of all the monsters they met. Arbogast, Teo, Likker, George. Even the monster that they were with right now.

Asriel.

They smiled a little more, just to themselves. So many new people to get used to down here, a whole new world that differed so much from the one they left behind. Maybe they would never be entirely used to it. The last person they met was just a big talking head, after all. They wondered who they would encounter next.

But Asriel was talking. They needed to pay more attention when he did that, some of the things he said were important. "-'s really nice so even if you can't, he'll be cool about it! I can tell you what he's saying, if you want, I-I mean if you need it!"

"Uh, right." They were coming to a stop, the two of them. Asriel was approaching a water cooler, pouring them both a drink. The child appreciated it; Hotland lived up to its name alright, making them sweat. They drank both cups of water gratefully while they walked with Asriel, half-listening to him talk about this place and people. It was all going in one ear and out the other, though. With a day like this, it would be hard to pay attention to anything. They were looking at the lava roiling below and wondering how they weren't dead yet from the heat.

In front of them, suddenly, loomed a laboratory. "Oh, here it is! Come on, we'll only be in a minute!" The child had just finished their last drink of water before Asriel grabbed their hand again, leading them up to the door. He knocked.

Nothing happened, at first, and Asriel knocked on the door again. The child felt a brief moment of trepidation. From the other side, there were footsteps, and then the door opened. As it did, they heard a strange distorted sound, something unlike anything they'd ever heard before. A strange static and beeping speech of words they couldn't understand, like someone was speaking through hundreds of filters. " ~~ASRIEL? WHAT IS IT-~~ "

The child instinctively tried to hide behind Asriel, shocked by the speech but as well by the sight in front of them. This monster, out of them all, was a kind most familiar to them - a skeleton, but one in a dark turtleneck and white lab coat. A skeleton wearing glasses.

By all appearances, this skeleton was surprised to see them as well.

"Hey Dr. Gaster! I don't suppose you heard; this is my new friend!" Asriel looked to find them, and was taken off guard finding them hiding. "Hey! Come on out," he laughed, pushing the child in front of him. Their heart beat faster, but they refused to cower. "I'm introducing them to everyone!"

The skeleton, Dr. Gaster, looked the child over and then back to the fellow monster. " ~~NO... I HEARD.~~ " As he spoke, ghostly reproductions of his hands began to use sign language in the air. The child could make out, "No, I heard. This is the human that fell down, then?"

"Yeah! They're really nice," Asriel said as he nodded at the child, who hesitantly nodded back. "This is Dr. Wing Ding Gaster. He's the royal scientist, and he's the smartest guy down here!"

_That honestly wouldn't be much of a horse race,_ thought the child.

"I do my best," Dr. Gaster signed, observing the two with a wary expression. He was different from most of them, the child could tell right away. Not as overly happy just to meet them as, say, the likes of Asriel. "But now they know my name. What's theirs?"

Sheepishly Asriel laughed again, "Oops, right, this is-"

The child held up a hand, cutting the boy off mid-sentence. Taking a breath, they faced the skeleton and raised their hands. They signed, slowly, the five letters of their name.

A wry smile appeared on Dr. Gaster's face. "Then it's a pleasure to meet you, À̧̱̜̣̯͖̝͈ͦͯ̄ͬ͆̂͛̒̓͑̑͑̆̊̐ͫ͟ͅl̵̴̹̫̘̣̭̳̣͉̣̞̩ͨ̎̌ͭͪͦ͛́͞͞i̵̸̛͇̤̲͍ͯ̂̋ͯ̂͘͜č̺̮̊̎͑̑ͭ̽͘͢͝͠ͅe̟̭̼͕̝̰̜̟͔̬͚̙͕̘̮̟̺͂ͫ̾͗̒̐̄̃̀͢͟."

* * *

The child was the same as he remembered them. Gaster's clipboard hung loosely by his side, just barely held above the kaleidoscope-colored ground. They are even the same age that they were back then, when they should be years - many years - older by now. They were smaller than Frisk was now, a fragile body in a big green and yellow striped sweater. Their shoes were scuffed and dirty from a day spent playing, a day spent playing that ended in them passing out cold on the floor.

A day where their life ended, suddenly and violently, as if by cruel divine intervention. Such was told by the marks still there on their shoes.

When they moved, the child's straight brown hair fell neatly across their shoulder. "It's been so long since someone has seen me." They took a step forward, but not moving beyond the blackness. They rocked back and forth, "Do you remember me, Dr. Gaster?"

Hesitantly, he nodded. Of course he did. He slowly spoke, and the phone repeated, " _...You're Alice._ "

The child in front of him frowned, shaking their head. "That's _not_ my name. That's just a name somebody gave me."

Numbly he said, " _Everyone called you that._ "

The smile returned to their face. "Now I am called by something different. My name has always been _Chara_.

"Just like your name has always been Gaster, or how Sans' name has always been San-"

On the heel of their speech, which they again spoke without moving their lips, Gaster sputtered suddenly, " _-Chara or Alice, you're supposed to be dead. I saw you and Asriel die. You're dead._ "

The child laughed motionlessly, and when they did their smile broke again broadly to show a wall of white teeth. "I'm not dead, silly! Not anymore! My body may be gone... and my SOUL may be gone... but I'm still here."

To this, he gave no reply.

"Are you confused?" The child nodded, "I was too. When I first woke up, I couldn't understand how I had reincarnated. Our plan had failed, and I disappeared from this world with Asriel. But something awakened me, in this child's body." Somewhere in that pillar of black that served as Chara's background, Frisk was still enveloped in darkness. "Their brave SOUL, and their DETERMINATION too.

"For a second I even thought we were the same person." Chara shook their head, eyes closing, "But it wasn't long before I realized that wasn't the case."

" _Where... did you go...?_ "

"Oh?" Chara looked back up. "I'll just say, I know what happens to human souls when they disappear." They rested a finger on the side of their nose, smiling smugly as they murmured, "It's a secret. So I can't tell you. But everything I _thought_ was _right_."

Looking down at his feet Gaster frowned, deep in thought. The child in front of him was unwavering. They were also chatty, as ever, and he could hear them talking again, "I'm glad I'm back here. Even if I share this body with someone else. It's not that bad. She shares her every thought and feeling freely. Her every experience, I experience it too. Her every power, I feel it as well through me."

" _Then that means you, as well, can SAVE and reset?_ "

They hadn't been finished talking, but the interruption wasn't minded. The child nodded, "I... can't SAVE, but I can reset. Well, not here obviously." They inclined their head back, towards Frisk. "That dumb kid. It's a good thing I stopped her. Resetting in this place, that has never been SAVED, almost completely wrecked the coding. Look at all this..."

The distortions that occurred right before Chara arrived were still present, and perhaps looked even worse with the passage of time. Bright colors or white bursts, frozen in the air or imprinted on the ground, obscured details of the world and were painful to the touch. It was as if chunks of reality were being torn out with nothing to take their place. Surely the others had noticed it too; it would be a matter of time before they came to find out what the problem was.

While Gaster took in these ruined surroundings, Chara continued to talk, "But I wouldn't do it outside of this world either. I promised somebody not to," they sighed. " _Besides_ , it's not boring enough for me to want to reset. For example... Just thinking of everything that's already happened, I want to see this day through to the end."

Dr. Gaster inclined his head. " _Not boring enough?_ "

"Have you been bored, Dr. Gaster? Is that why you and those other scattered monsters have been trying to plow into us?" Chara laughed. "It's alright. I just meant, if I ever get _too_ bored, I can _fix_ that..." their voice trailed off.

Something was wrong. He could feel it. Just like Frisk, the child in front of him didn't have any EXP, an LV of 1. The normal level for a human child. But something was still wrong. Maybe it was just because of how wrong he felt that he could tell, or maybe he was just projecting. It wouldn't be a stretch. He looked into the pillar, wondering if he could see the other child inside, still wanting his help. " _Come to think of it, what have you done to Frisk_?"

Chara looked back at the pillar. "Oh, she's alive. Just having a hard time, _haha_. I opened a pocket into the world where I ... uh, exist."

Again, the realization hit soundlessly in his mind. " _ **You** have been opening the reality spots._ "

They blinked and nodded, grinning. "I didn't have that power until we collided close to the Core. Pretty neat, isn't it? Our powers over the code grow with the magic that surrounds us. Even though I'm still trying to control it."

He frowned, " _Humans cannot use magic._ "

Chara laughed, again, "Humans can't do a _lot_ of things that we both can do. Humans can't share a body, either. But tell me, Gaster," they smiled bigger. "If I'm not a human anymore, what _am_ I?"

* * *

I'd remembered it wrong. Frisk was not the first human I'd seen in centuries. Actually, to be technical Alice - or Chara, as they call themselves - was not even the last. But they certainly were the first and last human I'd met that met me with a smile.

I never thought I'd see that smiling face again. I never thought about how I'd feel when I saw it.

Although I don't remember having anything especially against them back then, now I can only feel bitterness. The fallen child, this human, survived against all odds and laws when Asriel... did not.

But humans, above all things, are stubborn when it comes to their own existence. These children are proof of it.

However, letting it lie at just that would be unscientific. Beyond simple stubbornness, there has to be an explanation for their prolonged existence, for sharing a body, for being able to warp time and space. Even if Chara is not willing to share the answer with me.

The look they're giving me now is so... creepy. I recall well their penchant for making disturbing expressions with their fleshy human face.

I wonder if Frisk is aware of the other child within them. Somehow, even without proof either way, I doubt it.

* * *

Chara brushed a blade of light brown hair away from their face. There was a growing prickling at the center of the black pillar, frantic and unending but not effective yet. That aside, they didn't want to be spotted by the two other skeletons, or Undyne for that matter. They didn't have a lot of time before they had to say goodbye. The slightest irritation on their upturned lips, the child leaned left, "Gaster?"

Gaster looked back up.

"I want to let Frisk go soon." They straightened up. "But first; I had an idea, and I've been aching to tell somebody. Since you're here, maybe you'd like to hear it?"

" _...What idea?_ "

The child took a step forward, right to the border of the former reality spot they stood in. A little bit of the green sleeve of their sweater dripped over, and when it did Gaster saw the grey light overtake it, causing it to disappear as though covered up with whiteout. When it came back in the border, it reappeared. "I can't ever talk to Frisk, and she can't even see me. So I can't tell her, but I think the solution to our problem is simple. She has to go into the Core."

A chill crawled down Gaster's spine. " _You think so, do you?_ "

"I do," Chara said. "The Core has always been a factor in our abilities. Close to it we SAVE and reset. Far from it, we can't SAVE at all. And almost colliding with it gave me this new power. So, surely, actually coming into it will give us more. We could even fix all this - mess."

" _Or it could kill you both,_ " he snapped.

" _Hahaha_ , that's what she'll think too. You'd have to drag her right into it," Chara laughed again, her lips wide and split open over her white teeth. "But I believe my idea is right."

There was a silence between them, where the child's smile fell back into its resting position slowly, their eyes burning forward. But then another noise reached them both; somebody was cursing loudly.

Undyne.

"I can't do a thing about it, so..." Chara shrugged, "I don't _think_ there's any other way. If you start to get tired of this place, you know what to do. Goodbye!"

With that, the pillar of black receded, falling down into the ground as that ground gained back all the color of reality. When the blackness was fully gone, the smiling small child, Chara, disappeared into the light.

Released from the darkness, Frisk fell to her knees and sucked in air. Gaster stiffened and watched her stand, " _Are you alright?_ "

"Reall...y weird," she gasped, a hand at her chest. "Weird feeling... haa... what was...?"

He cocked his head, " _Did you know that there's a per-_ "

"Frisk!" Undyne reached her first, although Papyrus wasn't far behind. "Are you alright? What the hell happened?!"

The child grinned sheepishly at them all, glancing at Dr. Gaster. Papyrus was waving at him, and he ducked his head away in response. "My fault... I wanted to try and get us back, but it looks like I goofed up."

"I'll say," Undyne said, scowling at the blots of air that fizzed to the touch. "What is this stuff?"

Frisk shrugged and looked back at Dr. Gaster.

Who also shrugged. "... _Reality is unraveling. That's all._ "

While Papyrus took in all the damage with a panicked expression, Undyne just grunted, "Damn it, not again."

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Not Physically

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think it's too unclear, but for any confused: my interpretation of being able to name Chara anything you want in the game, despite Chara being the first human's "true name," is that Chara's name in life, as with all humans, was something that they were given, i.e someone else named them. But your true name is something that's yours regardless of what people call you. 
> 
> So my Chara is named "Alice" when alive, but they assume their true name, "Chara," in death.
> 
> Meanwhile I chose Alice for a dumb Alice's Adventures Underground reference.


	21. Not Physically

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

They'd spoken to each other a little since the moment when he'd said he "gave up," but it was only little things. Even the old conversations that were completely one-sided - Sans doing all the talking - had more communication between them than was happening now. For Frisk, it was unbearable. When she asked Papyrus about it, or Undyne, they didn't have a solution at hand. It wasn't like Papyrus was going to bully his brother into talking to Frisk more. He'd bully him into other things, but that was for his own health, and he hadn't even done that since they arrived.

She wasn't going to ask them to.

Unable to stand it anymore, she approached the sleeping Sans at the abandoned MTT Hotel. It took a bit of time, since she had to avoid any of the distorted and discolored spaces in the air and ground. When she reached him, the child had her locket in her hands, so she naturally poked his head using her head. The reaction was tiny and slow to happen; the skeleton only shifted in his sleep a little bit. So Frisk, frowning, hit harder.

Now his reaction was instantaneous, although it made her feel even guiltier. "zzzwhaza-!" he sputtered awake, head whipping in the child's direction. "-dude, did you just headbutt me?"

Frisk blinked. "Uh."

Eyes black and still looking groggy, Sans rubbed his skull and slowly stood up. "rude. what's up, bucko?"

That's right, this would involve actual talking. The words she wanted to say felt like cotton in her mouth, but with another second she let them free, "Are you still mad at me?"

"for clocking me in the head just now?"

She turned red, "N-no-" after struggling for a moment she said, "I mean for- I mean- for earlier, you know- like you've been for, for-" unable to get out anything else without her lips tripping, she gave up. As Sans stood there, listening without moving, her voice grew smaller until it faded into nothingness. So she finished, lamely, "Are you still mad?"

While she'd been speaking, Sans' eyes closed; at the end of it, he shrugged. With no hesitation, he said, "aw, kiddo, i'm not _mad_ at ya."

"Really?"

"yeah, 'course not," Sans opened one eye. "if i was, i wouldn't have much justification. 'how dare you be nice to this guy instead of smacking him into next week,' amirite?"

Despite herself, Frisk snorted and her lips pulled apart. Dropping the expression quickly, she murmured, "Then can we be friends again?"

Sans froze. And then he smiled wider, " _woah_ , you stopped being friends with me? that's a little uncalled for, don't you think?"

" _Sans._ "

He chuckled, "i'm sorry kid, if you thought i was mad at you for being you... heh, well i wasn't trying to give you that impression." He opened both eyes. "it's just been hard trying to process it. you remember what i said, about people who bring out the worst in you."

Nodding slowly, Frisk wondered what he was like, the Sans that lived imprisoned by Dr. Gaster. Maybe he never made jokes at all. Maybe he was always angry. Maybe he was completely miserable, instead of that low-level miserable that she constantly worried that Sans was. In fact, he had to be completely miserable. No maybe about it. She blinked hard as the image came back into her head.

Studying her face, Sans exhaled. "... guess i should really say thank you," he said, and Frisk again had her head patted clumsily, her hair poofing under his hand.

Unsure what this meant, the child gently pushed his hand off and gave him a look with her eyebrows raised. "eh? you wanna know what for?" And Sans shrugged, putting both hands in his pockets. "if you hadn't been here, i dunno what would've happened to papyrus.

"having all this come back again, i was afraid that he'd... well. you saw how he acted at first. ...but... i think being around you," he inclined his head, "someone who's a lot like he normally is, uh, i think it helped. so. what i mean is, thanks for being there for him as a nice reminder." He winked. "a remi _nice_ nce, if you will."

Frisk's face felt hot. "A what."

He pushed on her and she giggled as she stumbled back, "don't give me a hard time, kid, i'm tired." She grinned at him, nodding. Sans sighed, closing his eyes. "i guess i'm having more trouble because there's no lazy sacks of bones around to remind me of me. it's not easy getting a whole load of bad memories added back into your head, y'know?"

"You're not lazy."

"ehhhhh." he shrugged, opening one eye. "... you look tired too, buddy." Unable to deny it, Frisk drooped. "maybe you should, i dunno, take a nap or something. as kids do."

"..." Frisk shook her head. He already knew why that wasn't a good idea.

His grin slipping, Sans nodded. "bad dreams, right? that's my fault, huh?"

At that, the child looked back up and rapidly shook her head. In her hundreds of bad dreams, none of them were of Sans. "It's no one's fault," she said with a barest smile supporting it.

"ehhhhh." Although he was smiling back, it was just his resting face. "tell you what... what does toriel usually do to help ya sleep? maybe i can do it too."

At this Frisk turned red, and Sans straightened up in surprise as she stammered, "Nnnno-that's-fine."

"what's with that expression? what _does_ she do, kid?" Sans said.

Frisk mumbled something to the floor.

"didn't catch that."

Frisk took a deep breath and said, a little too loud, "She sings me to sleep!"

"what."

Ducking her head down a bit to hide herself, Frisk said, "I don't know she kind of - she just - sings me a lullaby every night when she tucks me in. It's three minutes long. It's nice. She has a nice singing voice."

"she sings you a lullaby? ...oh my god." Sans grinned wide. "you are such a huge nerd."

"I'm not a nerd! You're the nerd!"

"nerd." Frisk covered her eyes with the sleeves of her sweater as Sans laughed. When she finally peeked at him, he laughed again and said, "but unfortunately kid, i can't sing worth a damn. _i don't have vocal chords_."

The child raised a hand to comment on this, before thinking better of it.

"so, uh, i'll have to make do with music instead."

The child wondered if she was going to get a trombone rendition of Toriel's lullaby, and considered how hard it would be to actually sleep to that, but even as she did she saw bones materializing in the air in front of her. "?"

Gently, one by one, the bones struck each other. The sound that resulted, which Frisk listened to with her hands clapped over her mouth, was similar in sound to someone playing on a xylophone. A big grin was growing on the child's face, under her fingers. Looking pleased, Sans said as he played, "so this is gonna do? so how does the song go anyway?"

" ~~HUMAN, SANS.~~ "

Gaster.

The noises that made up his speech were sudden and jarring, and by the time they stopped so had the music. The bones, too, disappeared. The lights of Sans' eyes retracted to pinpricks and he came close, at least closer than Frisk had ever seen, to not even smiling at all. It was irritating, more than anything. Just when everything was getting back to normal between them, why... did he have to show up?

Frisk faced the scientist with a neutral expression as he entered, taking out Papyrus' phone and opening the translator. By now it was becoming a reflex.

Still looking like he'd bitten into something bad, Sans grumbled, "oh good, you came out of your cave."

The phone crackled, " _I am not here to speak with you_." Instead of looking at him at all, Dr. Gaster's glances were reserved for Frisk. " _I want to discuss something with the human._ "

"yeah, their name is frisk."

" _Yes,_ _I know that,_ " Dr. Gaster said coolly. " _It has no bearing on this._ "

Swallowing her exhaustion, Frisk took a step forward with the phone in hand, before Sans could get a chance to say anything else. "-What is it?"

" _Will you come with me? It will only take a few minutes._ "

Frisk looked back at Sans, who shrugged. At least he still had pupils. "If it's just a few minutes... okay." She hoped it wasn't the resetting experiment again. The way that this world looked as if it was breaking disturbed her. "I'll sleep afterwards."

" _It will not take long._ "

Dr. Gaster had hardly said so before turning and walking out of the room, leaving Frisk to run after him with another look at Sans. When their eyes met, Sans uttered, "hurry back kid." She nodded, and disappeared from sight.

* * *

Sans already suspects, although fortunately he is not acting on it.

...I guess I was interrupting something. I could have perhaps waited until the human was alone, which would only be when the rest are, or pretending to be, asleep... but that would have also looked more suspicious. I am only fortunate that, for our purposes, it will take less than a minute to reach the building that houses the Core.

As for the human, they don't look to be suspicious at all; that is also beneficial, but...

God, I'm so sick of this place.

Even more so, I'm sick of being surrounded by reminders of things that I can't even feel anymore.

If what I do works, then I won't have that problem, although I will still be trapped in this world alone. If it does not work... I don't really care what happens after that. But I'm sure I won't be putting up with this plane of reality anymore.

So, the result that I'm expecting and hoping for is a bit contradictory to the fact that I am sick of this place.

But, even so, there is something "good" that will come of either result. Whether it works or not, it is better than not doing anything at all.

No-

...

It's going to work.

* * *

For someone who wanted to have a discussion, Dr. Gaster wasn't doing a whole lot of discussing. The child followed behind him, hands held behind her back, and looked out to the building just across the walkway. There were patches of color all over, huge ones, and they probably ran along the inside of the building as well. There were distortions too, littering the air. Frisk had to take time to avoid some of those fizzing pixels, but Dr. Gaster walked through them like they did nothing.

Whatever he wanted, she hoped it would be over soon. She really wanted to sleep.

Silence didn't bother Frisk, but the silence between her and Dr. Gaster was different. He was looking pretty scary today, now that she was looking at him properly. What was his problem, anyway? Him and his high LV-

"Oh!"

Frisk finally spoke up, and when she did Dr. Gaster stopped in his tracks, just outside the building. "I never asked you my question, did I?"

"... _What question?_ "

"It was before I tried to reset," she rubbed her eye, suppressing a shudder as she remembered it. "You said you'd answer it if I answered something of yours, but I never asked it."

He sighed, turning his head faintly back in her direction. " _Well then, ask it._ "

Rocking back on her heels, knowing that this was a rude question, Frisk took a deep breath and said, "Does it hurt when you gain EXP?" There were no words from Dr. Gaster, just his one good eye staring at her, so she went on with a grimace, "We don't have a word for it - I mean, humans don't. So I was really confused when I first heard those terms. Sans told me what they meant, but he wouldn't tell me much else. And none of the other monsters talk about EXP or LV."

Someone like him, though, probably would be more okay with it.

" _Hurt?"_  He turned his head away from her and opened the door. " _Do you mean physically?"_

"Yeah."

His head dipped down, and she heard him chuckle quietly, as if to himself. She didn't remember ever hearing him laugh before. It was not at all like Sans' laugh. ...It didn't really sound like a laugh on reflection, but just more noise. She had hardly puzzled over it before he said, " _No. It doesn't hurt._ " Turning back to her, added, " _May we go now?_ "

As he entered, the child unconsciously walked in after him. "Okay- what are we doing, exactly?"

When the door shut behind them, Frisk felt something close hard over her SOUL, the red heart turning blue in the corner of her eyes. Her feet stopped touching the ground below, but she continued to move forward. "Um-"

Dr. Gaster, one hand raised and glowing with magic, maintained a steady pace. " _We're going to conduct an experiment._ "

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** An Expected Attack


	22. An Expected Attack

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 40/40

G 10

* * *

Her heartbeat was quickening, but Frisk took deep breaths as she was brought along, trying to remain calm, "Uhhhh -ow- uh, when you say experiment what do you mean exactly-"

Dr. Gaster didn't pause, but the hold he had over her loosened just a little as he concentrated on an answer. " _I mean I am going to see if putting you in the Core will have any beneficial results for your 'abilities.'_ "

"What!?" Now she felt real panic striking her. In vain she struggled against his grip, but her clawing hands and kicking feet had no purchase in mid-air. "Why-? Why, why do you think that's a good idea, why would you think that would help anything?"

He didn't turn around, but kept walking. " _When you reset the last time, someone showed up._ "

"Someone...?"

" _I don't believe you'd know them. But they told me that your abilities are tied to the_ Core." He shrugged, _"At first it didn't make sense, but I've been thinking it over. It's not the first time humans have displayed abilities that are otherwise impossible for them, and it has always been a res-_ "

In her ears, the speech coming out of the phone sounded like a madman's ravings. "What are you t-talking about? Who showed up? How did they-?"

At the interruption he sighed heavily, irritated. But he answered, " _-It was the first human that fell down here. Alice, they were called, although apparently they don't like the name anymore._ "

Frisk froze. Well, her body did, although he kept walking with her in tow. She was silent while he called, with great force, for the elevator that was just outside a patch of reality. Then she said, when the doors opened, "A-alice showed up?"

" _That is what I said, yes._ "

"Alice is dead."

Dr. Gaster brought them into the elevator and, forcefully, pressed the down button. " _It didn't make sense to me, either._ "

"Alice killed herself."

The gentle humming of the elevator took up the silence as Dr. Gaster looked over at the child. " _...What?_ "

Gradually Frisk's face was growing paler, fear creeping into her veins. No matter how determined she was, she always could feel fear as easily as anyone. "She ate buttercups. She killed herself. S-she wanted to kill everyone, using Asriel..." That friend that she barely knew flashed in her mind and she reached up, grasping the locket hard. "She's-! She's the reason that-"

" _How do you know this?_ " Dr. Gaster's voice was sharp and cut at her ears, even if the phone softened the sound a little.

"Because As-... Uhh..." Here, she hesitated. The elevator was still going. It would take another minute to reach the innermost part of the building. "B-b-because someone showed up to me, too."

Fortunately, instead of questioning her further on this Dr. Gaster was silent, and Frisk had time to breathe in deeper and deeper breaths. He was muttering to himself, quiet enough that the phone in her hand didn't pick it up. " ~~It was buttercup... poisoning...~~ " Little by little she felt her body moving back down, the grip loosening. Her desperate breathing cooled down, as it instead became a sigh of relief.

But then it stopped when he grabbed her SOUL just as hard again. "-!"

Dr. Gaster looked over at her with a cold expression. " _This doesn't change anything here._ "

She squirmed, again uselessly, pawing at the sides of the elevator. "Yes- it does! You can't listen to her! She's- she's- she's mean!"

" _Is that your only argument?_ " He glanced away, alerted by a faint grinding sound to the elevator doors opening. " _I am not just doing this because they told me to. That human gave me the idea, but I gave it consideration first._ "

Frisk suppressed a scream in her throat. "This idea being to throw me into a magical reactor and see what happens."

" _Yes, that's correct,_ " and so saying, Dr. Gaster stepped into the darker hallway while carrying the child with him, despite how desperately she scrabbled for a handhold on the elevator doors. However hard she tried to stay calm, she could hear something making a whirring noise on this floor and she was sure that they were getting close. The hallway wasn't long enough. Her breaths came in faster.

"Hey-" Just now realizing there was a phone in her hands, she started frantically texting to Sans. Dr. Gaster saw her, but didn't say anything. Maybe he figured it wouldn't matter.

There was just one door in front of them, one with a handle instead of an automatic. "Hey, stop-" her voice rose louder. No response; with his free hand, he opened the door and the whirring got very loud. Something was making a hot white light from the other side.

Inside was the center of the Core, which even now was generating power for an abandoned and deconstructed kingdom. It was encased in the largest of the patches of reality.

It stood in a large, circular room, with a cage over the center and machines piping into it as well as out of it. Within the cage a crackling storm of bolts, flames, and white lights obscured most of the inner mechanisms. These mechanisms fed energy to the storm that fed magic back into the machine and spat it out into the pipes above. The energy thrumming through the room was easy even for someone without magic to feel, and the source of the heat all over the Core.

It made Frisk tremble. "Stop! Don't throw me in there!" She grabbed at the door frame. "I'll be fried!"

He gave an irritated sigh, turning his head back in her direction, " _You are **not** going to be fried. It is **not** electricity-based._ " He punctuated his speech with a hard pull, and she lost her grip.

For a moment, the child looked like they were going to respond, but her eyes kept going to the storm of magic right in front of her. Her throat constricted, and no sound came out but a strangled whimper.

So as he unlocked the cage, Dr. Gaster spoke again, " _If everything goes the way I'm expecting it to, you'll be free. So I would remember the promise you made me if I were you. Calm down,_ " he added as he opened the door wide, " _As you said, you're very durable._ "

"You _douchebag!_ "

She hardly knew what she was doing. Papyrus' cellphone hit against Dr. Gaster's skull with a loud _clunk_ , cracking the screen and causing the scientist to stumble back with an untranslated expletive.

Startled and clutching his head, he released his magic and Frisk fell to the floor. She hardly missed a beat, scrambling upright and running back towards the door out of this room. But, once again...

" ~~GOODBYE HUMAN.~~ "

Frisk's SOUL turned blue.

Her body then whipped in the opposite direction.

As she struck the Core, she was assaulted by all the physical sensations that accompanied being enveloped in a wall of magical energy; a burning, like being enveloped in fire, accompanied by hard slap across her body that rattled her to the bone. Asgore's attacks had been similar, if she could summon the mind to remember. It was so strong, Frisk almost passed out. She was sure it was tearing her apart, that it wanted to tear her apart. Not that she viewed the Core, itself, as a sentient being. But it sure felt like the magic surrounding her body was chewing her up, like an animal.

She was just trying to bear it, trying to keep her body together. ...This feeling, as if the magic was seeping into her skin... there was no other sensation that could overpower that. It was so intense, she couldn't see or hear anything else.

But from the outside, the Core was going crazy with this new input.

A monster body, one that's pretty much made of magic anyway, is easily disseminated with the rest of the magic energy inside. A human body, one that's more physical, can't be so easily integrated and spat out.

Especially not this human.

So while initially the whirring of the Core sped up, in the next moment it slowed down. Way, way down.

What happened next, Frisk didn't fully remember.

The ground around her, the ground around Dr. Gaster, and beyond, all turned dark. And spreading over the colorless world and all its inhabitants, spreading over the true reality beyond it, spreading over the slowed Core, spreading over Frisk...

Was a backdrop of black.

She didn't see it at first, but there was also something else above her.

This distorted nightmare image became visible only in the dark.

And only with clogged ears could she, then, hear them.

* * *

_AH̸̟̦̬͚̝̠͗̔ͤ͊̆ͅA̅̉ͥ̒̆ͫ̚̕͟͏͔͉͔̳͕̬͎̪͍H̡͂ͮͤ͏̹̠̝̩̲̯A̸͕̺ͭ̕͞H̷̦͓͇͕̻̣̮͎̊͊͗͢A̼̯ͨ͗̌ͨ̀ͫ͒ͭ̆Ḩ̬͓̝͇͔̟̰̙͆͐̉̓̈́͡Ą͖̺̦͙̘̔̄ͪḨ̤͓͖̫͙͉̻̃ͭ̐̑̇͠͝A̔̒ͥͪ͋ͨ҉̡̛̩̥̼͙͓H̴͍͚̺̼͍̗͊ͪ͜ͅA̸͈̳̖̺̞͙͛̌ͨͦ̌H̢̧̭̗̖͔̔͛̈́̑̏̆A͉̩̜̮ͮ͆ͫͬͅH̖͛͢A̫̼̥̟̹͉̓̋̔̓ͪͧH͕̥͉̘̻̋̀͛͛̈̀͢͠͝Ă̵̡͙͚͖͇̖͎̆͡H͇͚ͥ͊͐̽͗̓̐͘͠Ȧ̵̞̱̲̩̂ͪ͋͜H̵͔̖̮͕̖́͋̾A̶̧̬̩̪̺ͮH̡͇̯̬̲̭̟̦͕͐ͯ̂̾ͭͮ̏͑̌̀͡A̰̤͈͆̀ͬ̍̕͜..._

* * *

_...You can't say that you didn't see this coming._

_He is a kind of monster who tortured his own sons for who knows how long, on top of other crimes. Each of them carried out without pity._ You _, you even saw him turn other monsters into dust without a second thought._

_You didn't actually think he would turn over a new leaf because you and Papyrus offered him MERCY._

_Did you?_

_You expected this attack._

_You're not quite sure what you expected to happen afterwards, though._

_...Hey..._

_Come to think of it, if you saw this coming, why did you keep offering him MERCY?_

_It's not the first time that you've spared someone who felt nothing while causing you pain. From the beginning people have coveted your SOUL, for themselves or for other people. You've faced monsters who wanted to crush you over and over again. You have nightmares about it._

_But that's no one's problem but yours?_

_Maybe it's just because you want the "best ending"... you want to see what happens if you_ do _spare them._

_Maybe you're just scared to FIGHT... you were and are a child, after all, too weak to do much._

_Maybe it's because someone once told you, "killing is wrong"... you don't want to get your hands dirty doing something "wrong". You'd turn into someone like Flowey, or Dr. Gaster, or even Asgore. (Miserable and lonely.)_

_Or maybe someone is telling you, "don't kill them" even now... you react to a gut feeling without even thinking about it._

_Is it really because you forgive them? Do you just not have a choice?_

_I already know the answer, Frisk._

_I'm just asking so that you'll have thought about it,_

_By the time you've met me._

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** Megalomaniac


	23. Megalomaniac

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP ?/40

G 10

* * *

What's happening?

Their screams are so loud, sometimes so ear-piercingly loud, that I desperately want them to stop. I prefer the times when they pass out from the pain. Although... Sometimes I don't prefer them. But even then, it's not their screams I enjoy. I can't ever get used to such cacaphonic wailing. It's that I enjoy seeing something new happen. It's observing new reactions, new results, physiological and psychological. If they were always asleep when I did my experiments, I don't think I could get that feeling in quite the same way.

Those times when they rebel, those times when they cry, when they cower, or when they try to escape and, through some miracle, save themselves from more pain, all it does it take time away from more important things. It's all so irritating. I get irritated. That's it.

They're things.

They're just things.

Reacting to the stimuli that I provide them with.

I had to tell myself that. _I believe it now._

Those humans were the same way. Irritating. Struggling. Crying. Things. Their SOULS were at least useful. _They shouldn't have been crying._ It was their fault in the first place. Their fault we're all imprisoned here. So, stop crying.

I hate you.

I can't breathe.

Alphys...

Until her, no one knew that those two were down there. They would have starved to death, if she hadn't set them both free first.

She was doing what she thought was right. But I was just furious with her. Of course I was. She was going to ruin the whole project. Everything that I had accomplished, everything that I planned to accomplish, she was going to ruin it doing what she thought was right.

I was angry- no. Maybe I wasn't angry. Perhaps that's too strong. It was simply that I was certain. Certain that she couldn't. She couldn't. She couldn't tell Asgore. Certain that she would not tell Asgore. Because _I would not let her._

Those were my thoughts. Even so, we were "friends." Weren't we? At some point? Even like that, I still wouldn't have... Or maybe I would have. Maybe I was going to, if she had not gotten away from me. But she...

...It was an accident.

It was a well-placed accident.

Somehow, somehow Alphys, you remembered me. Did you remember the accident? You had to. Didn't you? At least, you had to know the things that I hid from everyone else. It was all in your lab. But if you did know, why... why did you send someone to find me, after all these years? Didn't you know what you would be doing? Did just you feel "guilty?" Why did you want me _back?_

I can't understand.

I just can't understand.

I can't breathe.

* * *

It took a few minutes, but Frisk forced herself back to consciousness. Her head was throbbing, and the rest of the pain through her body hadn't even started. When she moved a hand, it stung. When she scuffed her shoe against the floor, her foot burned. Her back ached like there were shards of glass sticking out of it, digging into her spine as it arched, and she uttered a load groan. Her fingers felt loose and broken as she dragged them across the floor. Her neck was raw where the necklace had whipped and choked her in the storm.

When she stood upright, the child almost fell over again, just barely managing to catch herself. She felt that if she'd fallen, then her legs might have shattered into tiny pieces.

The world around her was dark and spinning. Her skin was dry and crawling, goosebumps all over her flesh. Above all else, she couldn't stop trembling, which only made the pain in each joint hurt worse.

The child knew that she had to concentrate. She was apparently still in the Inner Core room, in the large cage that Dr. Gaster had thrown her into. She was at the bottom, now, no sign of the magical storm that been chewing on her before she blacked out.

Speaking of blacking out... Everything was dark, but not as though someone had turned out the lights. It was more like the darkness was asserting itself there, not an absence but a presence.

It pervaded everywhere except around her feet, a small spot of light the only thing that remained around her. When she stepped forward, it effortlessly followed. Shen she crouched down, it spread over the ground so that no part of her touched the darkness again. It cast just a little light on her surroundings like a lantern. Frisk would have scratched her head over it if she wasn't still trembling.

The first thing to do was to get out of the Core. Frisk walked until she reached the edge, finding a small maintenance ladder installed on the side. It was worn and rusted, and likely hadn't been used since the Core's creation. It would do.

Climbing caused more pain, but bit by bit the stinging sensations were going away.

She reached the edge and felt for the opening of the cage. It had to be somewhere around here; who would build a maintenance ladder in this spot otherwise? Well, monsters did a lot of things that didn't make sense to the child, but...

Finally, one part of the cage gave way under her hand and swung back without a sound. Frisk pulled herself the rest of the way out, groaning loudly. She rolled on the ground and lay still for just a moment, regaining her strength.

By the time she got back up to walk, it was easier.

It wasn't long before she found Dr. Gaster's body, lying just outside of the border of her light and barely illuminated by it. He was facedown and clearly unconscious now; Frisk breathed a sigh of relief, but bent to inspect him closer. He was shaking, just a little. The child frowned and, pulling one sleeve over her hand, she poked his head. "Dr. Gaster? Um," she inched back when he shuddered. But he didn't wake up. "... You were right, I guess. I'm not dead. Dr. Gaster?" She poked him again, and this time he didn't move.

Giving up, Frisk made her way into the hallway, picking up speed when she exited the door. She would keep her sights on what she assumed would be the end of the hallway, hoping that soon the elevator would come into view.

Eyes focused up, she tripped over Sans after making it four feet.

"Aaiiiee!" Frisk toppled down on top of the skeleton with a yelp, her cry the only sound. Just as quickly she rolled off, heart beating harder.

He was lying facedown too, like Dr. Gaster. Fast asleep. Breathing out, the child stood up, brushed herself off, and checked him over for injuries. It looked like she didn't break anything, or at least nothing that she could see.

The door into the Inner Core was just four feet away from where he fell.

 _Too late as usual, Sans_ , Frisk thought, kissing him on the forehead. _But it's okay, I'm glad you tried._

Leaving him behind, she moved on until she reached the elevator. Then from the elevator on, she felt and dimly shined her way, until she was out of the Core. She didn't trip on any other bodies... not that she expected to, exactly. She was more expecting to be attacked the whole way, when it was so oppressively dark, but that didn't happen either.

Instead there was something else outside the Core. Waiting for Frisk on the walkway, there stood the image that lay at the back of her mind since passing out.

It was a little girl- or what looked like a little girl, surely no older than eight- in a green and cream-striped sweater. Her straight brown hair came just down to her shoulders, with long bangs that could have covered her eyes if they had not been swept back. With warm brown eyes, she was watching Frisk approach. With a rosy smile on a fair face, she wasn't saying anything at all. All of it was so familiar, Frisk knew that she had seen this child before.

After walking forward for a few seconds, she stopped. In response, the child ran the rest of the way, until they were only a few steps apart.

"Greetings," she said in a clear voice. "My name is Chara."

That wasn't the name Frisk was familiar with, but somehow, this new one felt right. She didn't know if she was feeling fear right now, or something else. This little girl was the reason that Dr. Gaster threw her into the Core. In fact, she was the reason for a lot of things.

Hearing no response from the older child, Chara tilted her head. "Hey, do you understand what's happened?" Although her voice was clear and real, the whole time that she talked, her lips weren't moving.

Slowly, Frisk shook her head. She didn't understand what Chara was doing here, or why, or how.

Tapping a finger to her lips, the child nodded thoughtfully. "It's a lot to take in, isn't it?" Seeing the girl opposite nod, Chara nodded back. "I don't know how to explain it all to you."

"You told Gaster to throw me in the Core," Frisk said suddenly, before any other words could cross over to her. Her hands clenched into fists.

Eyes widening as if surprised by this very information, Chara nodded. "I thought that it would help." The smile grew wider, as she added, "And it really did. Look at us both. Look how powerful we are now."

She had a point. Although Frisk didn't feel powerful so much as achey, something was definitely different. "How did you get here, C-Chara?"

"I've always been here," the child said, shrugging. "You just never noticed me before."

At that, Frisk had nothing to say.

"It's nice to finally talk to you," even if Frisk didn't talk, Chara did. "I feel like we've been friends for so long, but you didn't even know what my voice sounded like."

Friends?

The little girl pointed, "You're even wearing my locket. But you didn't know it was mine."

Gingerly, Frisk reached up to touch the locket she'd worn around her neck for four years. She'd never been able to open it. The initials on the back were A.D. She was embarrassed now to realize that it wasn't Asriel's locket she picked up, after all. She held it in her hands and quickly shoved it into her sweater.

"Do you know where we are?" When Chara asked, the girl shook her head. "This is... a world where people with DETERMINATION go. Although I've been within you, this is the place where I actually exist. It's the only way that we can talk now." She grinned, showing teeth. "With all the power of the Core, I can open up this place to the entire underground. And what's better, this is the place where we're most able to mess around with the coding."

"The what?"

Chara blinked, and then shook her head. "I just mean, we can fix everything that's gone wrong here. Maybe even beyond the underground."

This place didn't look like it had anything that could solve her problems. Frisk looked at the shadows and cobwebbing blackness with skeptical eyes. She saw nothing, except what her light illuminated, and Chara. Seeing her look, the girl went a step closer and held out her hand. "Don't believe me? C'mon, I'll show you, silly!"

Frisk took her hand.

And immediately, they set off together running through the darkness.

For Frisk it was scary; she couldn't see where they were going, or what they were doing, or what she might trip over next. Not seeing what was in front of her she kept her eyes on the ground, instead, so she didn't end up falling on another of her friends. Chara, on the other hand, knew exactly where to go and didn't falter as she pulled the other girl around corners. Occasionally, she jumped off into empty space; the first time she'd done this, Frisk became terrified and tried to pull away, but the other girl had an extraordinary grip for someone so young. Fortunately, the jump wasn't very far, and they both landed safely.

Chara laughed, to look back and see Frisk's fear. From that point out, Frisk followed her without any fear, even if it meant jumping off invisible ledges.

Eventually, they came to a stop. With her own light, Frisk could see that they were still in Hotland, although what part of it she couldn't recognize with so little in her sights. What she did recognize, though, was the pile of dust in front of her feet.

As she stared at it, Chara gave her hand a squeeze, as if confirming that she already knew what Frisk was thinking. "This is the dust of the kid that you met here," she whispered. "At least, most of it."

Frisk took a step back, noticing how close she was to getting monster dust on her shoe. She looked over at Chara, bewildered, unsure what they were doing before the pile of another monster's remains. As for Chara, she released her hand at last and bent down towards the dust, extending her own. "It's too bad. You can't bring a dead person back to life. We'd be messing around with the coding for years."

As much as she wished that she could have done something about their deaths, Frisk wasn't sure that she wanted to be here for years. She watched, swallowing a forming lump in her throat, as Chara ruffled her hand through the dust. It clung to the sleeve of her sweater and she gently brushed the particles off, the smile remaining perfectly still on her face. "The best we can do is give them a burial, don't you think? Come take my hand, Frisk."

Silently, the older child stepped forward and took the offered hand.

"We'll bring them back whole."

The sensation that moved through her body was strange and unpleasant. It burned just a little, deep in her bones. Like electricity passing through, and Frisk hissed under her breath at first- but she didn't pull away from Chara, all the same. She didn't know what was happening, but the dust in front of her was starting to look bright and fuzzy, and...

Images passed in front of her mind's eye unbidden, images that she had never known before but remembered clearly. The monster child that she watched turn to dust, but in color the way he was when she pulled him free. His eyes were no longer a pure white, but were simply wide and shining at everything that he looked at. Like a certain kid that she was starting to miss a lot, actually.

He appeared for only a second and then was gone. Dr. Gaster had killed him. She didn't want to believe that at the time.

The dust in front of her was gone. Chara stood up, smacking her hands like they were chalkboard erasers. "Hmm? His dust should be back in the real world now. That's one down."

"We SAVED him..." Frisk said, realizing.

And smiling wider, Chara nodded. "I knew him once. His name was Teo."

Teo. She would not forget it.

They all had names like that. Chara told Frisk each one as they traversed the blotted out Underground. George was also in Hotland, Likker in Waterfall. Arbogast, the talking head, was the one with his dust spread across Dr. Gaster's office. It became easier to SAVE them as they went, with Frisk feeling hardly any pain as she did. With each pile of dust she sent away, though, she couldn't help but feel a little bit wearier. Maybe it was just the memories of them which came to her head with each touch, memories that were cut too short. Like a subliminal message in a movie.

Frisk was silent through it all. Clearly Chara knew what she was doing, and she also agreed with SAVING the monsters who were trapped in this awful place. When they SAVED the last of the dead monsters...

Letting go of Chara's hand, Frisk asked softly, "We'll SAVE the others now, right?"

"Right!" The smaller child nodded. But then said, her smile cooling down, "Just one or two things that we should do first."

There was a second where Frisk felt that tingling, burning in her wrists and she rubbed them absently. "What kinds of things?"

"Well, you already know how to SAVE," Chara said, putting her hands behind her back. "But you can do more than that with all the power inside you. If you try hard enough. In this world, you can even DELETE someone from existence."

There was a chill that stopped Frisk up short, frowning in the barest puzzlement. "DELETE?"

Chara bowed forward, "Yes. Do you know what that is?" From habit Frisk's hands were reaching for her locket- when he couldn't reach it, instead she shoved her hands in her pockets. She shook her head. And Chara said, "When a monster falls into the Core, their being is spit into several different places. Places way outside of the regular world. Because they're not in an active space people forget that they existed... Usually. But they're still there, lurking somewhere, and could always be active again. As you already saw."

For a small child, Frisk thought, Chara was unusually verbose.

"But when you DELETE someone, they'll never come back. They're gone forever. Completely."

The look on Frisk's face made Chara pause, smile twisting. "Why would I ever want to do that?"

"Oh, come on," quickly the smile returned. "There's plenty of people that should be DELETED in this world." That look on Frisk's face wasn't going away, so she continued, "Don't you think?"

Still, it wouldn't go away. Frisk took a step away from the girl in front of her, wondering where her friends were.

Chara took a step forward. "Don't you think?"

"What does that mean?"

"We've been together since the beginning of the game," she said. "And you don't FIGHT. Maybe it's for the best. You want the "best ending". But deep down, it doesn't make everyone happy, does it? There's people you can't stand to see, but you keep seeing them. DELETE them, and those awful memories won't bother you anymore. But," she went on, even as Frisk was shaking her head, "It's not just for you, you know. Sans and Papyrus are never going to be happy with those awful memories inside them. They're always going to be miserable with that evil person alive and in this world." She shrugged, "But if we DELETE him, maybe they'll go back to the way they were before."

Feeling frozen, her throat as well, Frisk gave only the barest shake of her head.

Undisturbed, Chara walked back up to her and offered a soothing smile. "I know you don't want to FIGHT. But this is different. You won't even remember you did it. It's a FIGHT completely without EXP."

Stock still, the other girl was unable to make a sound. The smaller child extended her hand. "It's easy. Just take my hand, and concentrate on the one that you most want to disappea-"

"No!" Finally, albeit a little late, she moved and slapped that hand away. Her voice was too loud, "I'm not going to DELETE someone from existence! That's crazy!"

Chara examined her hand thoughtfully, "People like Flowey and Dr. Gaster only do bad things. They will only continue to do so for as long as they wish. If you leave them alive in our happy ending, they'll spoil it."

"F-Flowey is getting better," Frisk said, although from the way that Chara looked at her it seemed she could tell those words were a little hollow. "And I'm sure that Dr. Gaster isn't evil."

"He threw you in the Core."

Just a while ago Frisk had been mad at Chara for giving him the idea in the first place. She didn't feel as angry now. "He was trying to help us get out of here."

"You know that's not why he did it," she said with a shake of her head. "He threw you in- because he wanted to see what would happen."

 _It still worked,_ that was the first thought that went through her mind. "Maybe, but I still can't believe-"

Something shifted; Chara's resting smile became an ugly grimace. "Did you _read_ the same notes as me?!" She yelped, her voice becoming shrill. "He's just as rotten as a- they're both just as rotten! I'm trying to help you! You'll feel better if you erase these people! Your friends will feel better!"

"No, I-"

"People like Flowey, like that Dummy, like Muffet, people like _Gaster_ , people that _nobody likes_ , it's not a problem to DELETE them."

"But it's wrong!"

Here, the smaller girl hesitated. "Wrong?"

"O-of course it's wrong," Frisk said, feeling a twinge in her gut. "I don't have the right to erase these people from existence just because I don't like them." Even if he did horrible things to her best friends, her gut still told her so. She felt like she was going to throw up from all the gut feelings.

"Yes, you do."

The blackness that surrounded them was ever-oppressive. It never quite touched Frisk, with the circle of light and reality that surrounded her. It was now that she realized that there was no such circle around Chara. The darkness was touching her, and she was the only thing that it didn't oppress. She stood out clearly, vividly, against it.

"You have the right to do anything that you want to," the child before her said. "And you know that. The ability to SAVE and RESET, why would we be able to do all that if their lives were not ours to do with as we wish?"

Frisk felt cold, like there was a pit of ice in her stomach, and in that cold she was beginning to shake. She didn't say it, but the dark frown on Chara's face showed that somehow she heard it all the same; _you're insane._ Still frowning, Chara's eyes closed.

"Do I not understand you as well as I thought I did?" Chara stood still, limply, speaking clearly but yet to herself. "It never even occurs to you to FIGHT most of the time, I thought if I gave you the obvious answer you'd be grateful," she finished bitterly.

Then, her ordinary smile returning, she opened her eyes. "Do you know what Hell feels like, Frisk?"

Instead of those delicate brown eyes, her eyes were pitch black and huge.

Frisk took a step back, a gasp the only sound she made.

And Chara, she said, "Because... I ̀d̕o͘.҉"

For the first time, Chara opened her mouth. She first pursed and pulled apart her lips, showing white teeth. Then she opened her teeth, and opened her mouth wider, wider, wider. Across her entire face, she opened her mouth in a bubbling whine. It was swollen with blackness, overflowing with it, spilling it from her lips and off her tongue. The same blackness that filled her eyes, her wavering round eyes, dripped from her open mouth like sludge and stained her shoes.

"This is Hell." Her speech was a bubbling gurgle, out of the black sludge that never ended its trail from of her mouth. "Hell is your own heart."

That face was too close.

Drooling on Frisk.

Although she cried out, Chara was the only one who heard her.

"Drown in it, you shitpig."

* * *

_"You idiot"_

_"...strong enough to survive..."_

Each nightmare, at once. All at once

_"Stay determined!"_

_"...I DON'T DESERVE SUCH HOSPITALITY FROM YOU..."_

Not even just the nightmares. Things that she had long forgotten, that didn't bother her anymore, things that had never really bothered her at all, were resurfacing in her mind without end.

_"all that pressure to succeed..."_

_"Futile! Futile! Futile!"_

She couldn't breathe.

_"You know what would be more valuable to everyone? IF YOU WERE DEAD!"_

_"It's breakfast time, isn't it?"_

Getting your ribs smashed open. Getting your legs or arms broken. Getting your body crunched under giant jaws, or sucked dry by the scrambling smaller monsters below you.

Reaching up to find a broken and bleeding lip where you were kicked in the face. It's the same spot that you were kicked in the face the last time. Maybe next time you'll get a black eye instead.

Can't breathe

".. _.where you stand..._ "

_"...your last living moments... ..."_

_"Goodbye."_

Something sharp and red tears apart your lungs and you can't breathe.

Can't breathe.

_"...tear you to bloody pieces..._

_"Over,_

_"and over,_

_"and **over**."_

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** Once Asleep


	24. Once Asleep

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP ?/40

G 10

* * *

Heartbroken and heavy, the child lay in place and wondered if she was dead. But that was impossible, if only because she was sure that there was no point to dying in Hell. Even so, she may as well be dead. She'd rather be dead. Rather be dead and unable to feel anything than be trapped like this for however long she was going to lay here, on the hard and cold ground of the colorless Hotland. She could not move, she could not hear, and she could not see.

Well, she couldn't see or hear anything around her, but in front of her eyes she saw countless hallucinations that mocked her with laughter. Just when she adjusted to the pain of one, another flew to the front. Her body ached with each memory of having it torn apart, of having her heart pierced through. Even when they weren't intending to, they hurt her. She remembered suffocating in a mad Dummy's cotton and again was reminded that there was no air for her here. Her lungs sucked and found nothing. She choked on the shadows and horrible secrets in True Lab.

Even when she had long pushed away so many of those encounters, even when she thought she'd long forgiven them, here they were again. They were like bubbles in a swimming pool that came to the surface no matter how she arranged her hands to push them down. Big bubbles and small bubbles too. She didn't know any of the quiz answers. She'd felt stupid.

Was she never going to be able to let go? Toriel told her that they would go away in time, but four years later she still had bad dreams. Did it make her a bad person? She didn't want to have those dreams anymore.

Maybe some people really should be erased.

It's so hard to think of the bitter taste of Gaster's coffee when her mouth is full of the taste of her own blood. When before her eyes she just sees that computer screen full of atrocities. She'd yelled at Sans. But Sans yelled at her. Flowey stabbed her through the face with gigantic vines.

Not even just people like Flowey that bothered her. She tried to avoid Mettaton whenever she could. Someone who thought of killing people as "just show business" really shouldn't be the idol of the monster kingdom. He was nothing like his cousin. He should also be erased. Even if he was Alphys' friend... well, Alphys made friends with a lot of terrible people. People like Dr. Gaster, and people like Undy... Asg...

Without feeling herself do it, Frisk's hands reached up and covered her streaming eyes, sobs wracking her body.

" **He** told you they were a bad person, but you **didn't listen** , did you?"

Frisk's spine bent back as she sucked again. Her lungs were burning. When she peeked through her fingers, there was a flower sitting on her chest. No wonder it was so hard to breathe. "Uh... Hello?" The flower was talking. "I-it's me... Flowey!"

Not Flowey. Flowey was... Flowey was the worst one of them all. Frisk covered her eyes again and gave short, ugly sobs, like a small child. Flowey's face bent a little closer to her, and she tried to bat him back. Her hand was too weak to make much of an impression. So she summoned the strength to make her sobs into words, burbling, "I hate you..."

Somewhere above, from the flower, she heard a nasty laugh. And then, "...Golly, you don't look so well! I think you should get moving, Frisk!"

His taunting was really getting old. "Ca... can't..."

"Sure you can! It's easy!" Flowey disappeared from her sight. She felt something prickly coiling around her ankle. "I'll s-show you!"

 _Stop_ , she tried to say, but he already was tugging on her foot. Her whole body jerked in his direction across the ground, and Frisk screamed. The action sent a shockwave through her. She threatened Froggit.

Another tug, another scream. She left everyone behind without hope of escape. She didn't even answer the phone.

Another tug, _I never do what I'm told_ and Frisk swallowed the scream in her throat. _Stop it stop it now!_ Instead of listening to the image before her, she kicked at the vine around her ankle, struggling to break free.

The effort had her sitting up, until she reached the thing with her own hands and tore it away. Her fingers bled to touch the thorns on that vine, but she didn't care at this point.

Now that she was sitting upright, drawing in her legs, she saw Flowey pop through the ground in front of her. He looked a little different from before. "See...? I told you that you could move."

On Frisk's face was a completely neutral expression, watching him bob in place. She understood now. "You helped me."

Flowey gave a little laugh; it was then that she realized what was different. His smile was a nervous one, not a mean one. "Yeah, I'm pretty helpful huh?" He winked, but there wasn't much effort behind it. "So, when you're thinking about people you wanna get rid of, you're going to... not include me, right?"

Self-preservation. Of course. "Why?" Frisk asked, wondering if she would ever again have the energy to get back to her feet. "Are you scared?"

"No!" Flowey wavered. "O-of course I'm not... scared..."

And her face softened, bit by bit. After sitting up, after wiping her face and stinging eyes, the nightmares in her head really didn't seem as noisy as they were moments ago. And, if only by focusing on that face in front of her, she could slowly breathe again too. Maybe it was that she was always breathing, but until now didn't realize it. She only could feel the moments when she was choking.

Seeing that his nervous expression had not let up, she said quietly, "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

It disappeared at last. "I knew it. You're the same idiot that you always are," Flowey smirked.

It was better to be called an idiot than to be called a shitpig. Frisk took another deep breath, now that she could, and let it out with the count of eight. Now it was time to stand up. There were snaps and tingling in her legs when she did, but despite a sharp pain in her throat it wasn't unbearable. More breathing. She pushed the nightmares back with Flowey's cruelly smirking face. "Where is Chara?"

The look faded. "I don't know. They're looking for me."

Looking for him? Frisk stretched and stared, raising her eyebrows. The little circle of light that had surrounded her earlier, she wondered if she could bring it back and then extended that curiosity to the world around her. The glow flickered at her feet, very faint. Her toes stung with the energy.

Flowey inched into that circle. "I don't want," he cleared his throat. "Them to find me."

She could understand the sentiment. So it was more self-preservation; she could run much faster than a flower could. In this place she had an advantage that way, however powerful that flower was in combat. She bent down and offered her hand. "What are you even doing here? How come you're not asleep like everyone else?"

"You're not the only one here with DETERMINATION," Flowey snapped, staring at the hand. At first he didn't know what to do with it. Finally, though, he wrapped his vines around her wrist and Frisk straightened back up, with Flowey climbing up and clinging to her shoulders. "Did you _forget_?"

She really had forgotten; it was easier to categorize Flowey as a monster than as the abomination that he was. That thought alone made her feel a little bad, so after a moment Frisk just shrugged. With the flower secured around her shoulders, there wasn't any reason to stick around here. The light around her feet grew brighter if she only focused, pushing away the oppressive black and allowing her room and direction to walk.

Briefly, she wondered why Flowey was so at ease in the dark.

But then, it was Flowey. It wasn't anything really strange.

They went on in silence, with Frisk blindly hoping that she would stumble over another one of her friends. The last place she saw Papyrus was close to True Lab, but that was forever ago. She wasn't sure where the entrance to it was, anyway. Undyne... she had been practicing her spear-throwing somewhere. The noisy cracking and bursts of magic were giving her a headache, so she'd kindly moved it somewhere Frisk couldn't hear.

Sans and Gaster were close by each other, and she knew exactly where they were; they'd be the easiest.

The child wandered for a while before she heard an irritated voice at her shoulder, "Okay, _what_ are you doing?"

Frisk paused. "...Looking for the others."

A cruel and rapid laugh assaulted her ears and the light around her flickered. "Oh, is that all? You're sure doing a bad job of it. I could have saved you _lots_ of time if you had just asked me."

The child had to stop and take another deep breath, this one to avoid ripping him off of her shoulder. She turned her head and gave him a meaningful glare, not wanting to waste the energy it would take to actually ask him for directions. Flowey cringed away and laughed harder, before pointing a leaf behind her. "You were going the **wrong way**. One of them is that way, and down a floor. I'll take you to the ladder."

Frisk nodded. She followed the directions that Flowey pointed out to her at a slow walk, watching for Chara to appear out of nowhere. If she did, she really had no idea what she would do. She didn't have any weapons of any kind, and dodging hadn't helped one bit when she had done... whatever it was that she did. The thought made her tremble, but no matter what she couldn't leave her friends behind. That meant no sitting down and giving up.

She saw a shape now, on a walkway that was getting wider.

This was... the sight of Alphys' lab. And past it, maybe walking to see the defunct puzzles that were once put in place there...

Frisk started to run, the light at her feet bouncing over rocks. Flowey hissed at her, telling her to slow down, but there was no way she would listen.

"Papyrus!" She couldn't help but call his name. Even though she wasn't convinced he'd hear her. He was also on the ground, though huddled up rather than completely facedown.

When she got closer, she realized he wasn't completely still.

He was also shaking, violently. More violently than Dr. Gaster was, in fact much more. She almost thought that he was awake, but when she went to see closer she saw that his eyes were shut tight. Very tight. And more than that, she could hear him. "Hh... hhhh... hhh... ghyh..." Little whimpers, little gasps for air. Like somebody who was in pain, or someone who was afraid.

"Oh no..." Frisk fell to her knees in front of him, hands to her mouth. "Oh no, oh no, Papyrus..." He would not stop, no matter the angle that she looked at him. She reached out, patting the skeleton on the head, trying to pull him closer to her.

She was shocked by how cold his bones felt against her skin. "I... it's gonna be okay Papyrus," she said, her voice suddenly hoarse as she again choked. "It's gonna be okay-!"

_You try to comfort Papyrus._

_He stops shaking just a little bit._

Flowey still waiting on her shoulder with a sour expression on his face, Frisk looked over her fallen friend. She wondered what he was having nightmares about. But when she thought about it, she didn't really need to wonder. Her lips trembled, and as a result her speech did too. "I-it's gonna be okay..." How did she SAVE him last time? This time is a little bit different than then... "I-it... I'm so sorry..." She said. Even though she could SAVE him, she already knew that she wouldn't be able to make those nightmarish images go away.

She'd thought he was okay.

But maybe he was just like her, pushing down on air bubbles.

It's a doomed task even when awake, but once asleep...

He was still trembling under her hands. Would he ever be the Papyrus that she knew again?

Frisk held on to him tightly, squeezing her eyes shut.

_You reach for your SAVE file._

Memories of him outside the colorless worlds entered her head easily. From the very start, when they first met, right up to the moment that she disappeared. The almost-inedible dishes he made that she choked down, until either she slowly built up a tolerance or he actually improved, were the strongest for her. But they were all clear. They were a welcome reprieve from the visions on the back of her mind.

The tastes and pictures faded when she looked down and Papyrus wasn't there anymore.

What filled her wasn't fear, but calm. He must be back in reality. Frisk breathed a sigh of relief and stood back up. That was one down.

* * *

There had been too many seconds of silence since when Frisk had made Papyrus vanish from this spot.

"Woah, that was pretty rough huh?" Flowey finally said, readjusting his grip on the girl, but Frisk didn't reply. He rolled his eyes, now understanding; typical. She was just waiting for the next set of directions. "She's in Waterfall," he muttered.

At once, they ran off in the opposite direction; they knew their way to Waterfall from Alphys' lab. But Flowey screamed, this time much louder, "Slow down or I'm _going to fall off_ you stupid idiot!"

She huffed and walked at a quick pace, instead.

And now no longer worrying about being sent sailing back, he tried to get more words out of her. "So, you know that you can probably get yourself out of here if you really tried, right?"

No answer. Frisk's face was set in hard lines.

" _I guess_ you probably wouldn't listen to me if I told you you're just risking yourself trying to SAVE your friends. Even though I know **they** will be finding us at any moment and **they** are not going to be as nice as they were the last time you made them mad."

That got a snort. What was so funny?

"I mean maybe you think you don't have anything to worry about, but let me just let you in on a **fun fact**." Flowey's voice was rising, become more of a loud raspy whining, and it was harder for him to keep a neutral face. "They're holding dominion over this world. They may even have more control over it than you. They certainly _know what to do_ better than _you_ do. So don't take any unnecessary risks, _Frisk_."

"You're so scared," He heard her say at last.

Flowey stopped talking immediately. No, no, this had not at all been what he wanted her to take away from that.

Frisk stopped walking, reaching the edge of the Hotland cavern and stepping over the border to Waterfall; she reached out a hand and carefully plucked Flowey off of her shoulder, although he at first resisted when unsure what she was doing. She held him in both hands, and he reflexively curled his roots around her wrists. Her face was... a little different from before.

"I've never seen you like this," she was saying.

"I'm not _scared!_ " He insisted. "I'm just _smart!_ Smarter than you, apparently!"

She closed her eyes. "You're scared of Chara."

This time he didn't say anything.

"...How come you never came out from the Underground, Flowey?" Frisk said, opening her eyes again. "If it's so boring down here?"

He laughed, but it was too weak. "You-! ...Well I just- ... I mean, what would be the point?"

The expression that she was wearing right now... he hated it. She had worn it once before, and it was even worse now. "Are you scared... to go out?"

"No!"

"Because you can't SAVE anymore..."

"No! That's **not it at all**! Stop saying that!" He snarled, his face skull-like as he rose his ghastly voice in volume. "If anyone's scared here, it's you, you dumb crybaby! You should have seen the look on your face when I found you!"

Frisk moved her hands to her shoulder; hoping that the interrogation was over, he gratefully climbed back on there from her hands. But he was out of luck; even though she began to walk, she murmured, "I never knew. I'm sorry that I never visited you."

"..."

Frisk experimentally tapped on one of Flowey's petals with a hand opposite the shoulder he was perched on. "When we get out of here, I'll visit you more often."

"I'll just kill you each time you do," he hissed.

There wasn't a lot of talking between the two of them after that.

...

Silently Frisk wondered if flowers also slept.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** That I Can't Keep


	25. That I Can't Keep

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP ?/40

G 10

* * *

It's just a dream. I'm just dreaming.

Subject 1 and 2 don't exist anymore, it's just Sans and Papyrus. No, that's not it. What happened? They're not- they've always been- The point is it's a dream- that the project has been over for a long time. They have friends now. They're people now. No, they were always people, but- now I am forced to acknowledge it? Is that it?

I can't wake up. I can't wake up, even knowing that it's a dream, even knowing that _literally all I need to do_ is open my eyes and it will stop.

Someone help me, please.

Even a scream will do, if it will wake me. As much as I hate it.

How many times did he want to give up? Was it only because I gave him someone to cling to that he didn't, that he kept enduring it? Was that even crueler than not giving him anything at all? I needed him to never give up, but that was all he ever wanted to do. It's not something I didn't expect. I didn't do much about it. I knew he'd never be able to escape as long as I was around.

I liked that kind of power.

No-

I-

Wake up, wake up...

* * *

Waterfall was pretty different without any light. The caverns were actually pretty creepy, with only the small amount that Frisk had to see them with. It was also difficult to navigate, so again the child was grateful to have Flowey there. He seemed to know Waterfall like the back of his hand. Perhaps he would spend time here pretending to be an Echo flower when not causing pain and misery to monsterkind. Not wanting to dwell on that, Frisk shook her head and kept silently moving to his directions.

Sometimes her light shined on droplets of water and it made her throat ache; when was the last time she'd even taken a drink? She hadn't needed to eat or drink in the grey world, but here it was different. Her stomach was quietly growling too. She'd even eat Papyrus' spaghetti pie gladly, at this rate. Well, she'd gladly eat it anyway.

Without realizing it, she'd begun to just stare at her shoes as she walked. Watching the circle of light that kept up without missing a beat. In it everything was the right color, at least the colors she remembered of Waterfall. Outside it, it threw gold at the grey like a regular spotlight. It was pretty cool, the way the borders could stretch just the littlest bit if she tried. Frisk wondered if this was how monsters felt when they used magic.

"-Frisk," The tremor in Flowey's voice brought her back up, brought her to a complete halt. "Frisk, stop."

Chara was standing in front of them, several feet away.

The ghastly hole that was her mouth was closed, back to the resting smile. Even so her eyes were still big and pitch black, filling up far too much of her face like on an insect. She blinked, slowly, her lids also looking swollen as fat black tears dripped down her pale face. Frisk's own eyes itched and she scratched them frantically, fearing that she too would-

But her eyes were fine. It was just that when she opened them again, Chara was an inch from her face.

"AAAAAAAH!" She didn't know if it was her or Flowey who screamed, or both. She stepped backwards several paces, almost losing her balance when she did. She could feel Flowey wrapping around her more tightly, his vines and roots feeling prickly. His lower thorns were poking through her sweater.

"Ḥ̼̗̳ͅą ̮͓̫̥ͅͅh͏̬͇̫͖͈a̲̞͓͈̘̺͠ ͔̳̲̯͍̰̰͢h͓a̷̟ ̶̭͕̫̣̦͙ha ̟͖̳͉h͍͕͕a̧͕ h͞a̙̖͚." Chara was laughing at them, opening her lips just a crack. Sludge dribbled out, so she closed them again and wiped her mouth. Without moving her lips again she said, tilting her head, "You got back up, Frisk. I knew you would."

She only did because Flowey forced her to. "...H... hi." She said. Her heart beat furiously and she looked around, wishing that she could see ahead or behind just a little bit more. "Can you tell me... where..."

"No." Chara took another step forward, and Frisk took another step backward. "But you see what I mean, right? About the awful memories?"

The other girl didn't respond.

Chara made yet another step. This time Frisk stood her ground. Chara held out her hand. "Give me the flower."

From beside her ear, she heard a gentle little whimper. Instinctively she reached out a hand, as if to press Flowey closer to her body, and she firmly shook her head at the creature in front of them.

So instead Chara said with a smile, "Asriel, get over here."

"N... no." The voice that sounded in Frisk's ear was so soft, so familiar, that it caused a sharp pain to shoot from her throat into her heart. She huffed, struggling to keep breathing. Flowey inched away from her ear. "I... I heard everything! Alice, y-you were going to let her erase me..."

Going rigid, the little girl's smile drooped. But then she recovered. "I'm sorry Asriel, but I can't think selfishly at a time like this," she said, taking a few steps forward. Frisk was unable to stand her ground any longer, risking being within reach of that tiny hand, so she took several more steps back. She could feel Flowey trembling on her shoulder. The smile in front of her was making her feel sick, now, as a voice came out of it. "Don't worry. Even when no one remembers that you existed, I'll still keep the promise that we made."

_Promise?_

She didn't have time to ask. Flowey's voice snapped back to the awful one that she remembered, the rasp that he used at his most transparent, " _I HATE YOU!_ "

Chara laughed bitterly. "Well golly gee Asriel _I already knew that_ , you stupid whiny crybaby!"

"Go away!" Frisk shouted, putting her hands protectively around the being by her head. "I just want to bring everyone back home!"

"Give me the flower, Frisk."

"No!"

"Give him to me."

"Stop it!"

"H̟̦̉̉͡à͞ņ̠̬̼̗d̼̹̣̗̖͈ͯͧͥ͢ ̡̘͚̩̈͑h̵̺̗̰̭̯̗iͫ̊͋̒͑m̌ͨ̊̌̏ͮ͞ ̲̫̺͇̰̰̟ͫͣo̻̝̣͔̹̩̼̿̂̏̑ͥv̷̗̮̯͛̊͊e̤ͫ́r̲̜̈."

Drooling sludge Chara ran, suddenly, to close the distance between them. Frisk uttered a scream.

_Shhk!_

In another second Chara's steps slowed and faltered until they stopped completely. She fell onto her knees right in front of Frisk, who- again- backed up. "Uu... uhh..?" She blinked, and when she opened her lids again her eyes were a normal brown. She looked down at herself, and Frisk and Flowey followed her eyes too.

There was a big blue spear sticking out of her stomach.

Slowly, Frisk and Flowey looked up beyond the fallen girl. Limping closer in the distance, lit by only the barest amounts of light that caught on her armor, was a familiar shape. Red hair a mess in her face, grimacing hard, and moving only with extraordinary effort.

It was Undyne.

The spear in her stomach dissolved and as the hole in her stomach healed Chara stood too, looking back at Undyne. Her voice echoed in Frisk's head. "Undyne? W... why?"

"Ge... h'way from F.. frisk..." She hissed through her teeth, through her exhaustion.

And Chara's voice became loud in all their heads. "Why are you awake?!" A barrage of blue spears flew at her and the girl shrieked, trying to dodge. One stuck into her face and another her chest. Another struck her leg and she stumbled back, twitching violently and uttering a low groan. The spears faded and the injuries began to close, but her face was twisted with pain, "You shouldn't be awake!- !"

Yet more spears pierced her body, Undyne gritting her teeth and swinging a large metal spear in the demonic child's direction. Chara screamed. "STOP!" But each time the spears vanished and her injuries started closing, more were taking their place. At last the child ran; Frisk could hear her wailing growing in intensity as she fled, disappearing as if into thin air after passing her and Flowey.

Undyne was by then only a few feet away from them. She and Frisk stared at each other for a few seconds, the warrior breathing hard and going more and more limp. The child wanted to say something like "thank you" or, much like Chara, "how are you even awake," but could find no words for what she had just witnessed. Flowey surely wasn't providing any.

Not smiling, only grimacing in pain, Undyne collapsed and fell to her knees. Frisk ran to her friend, stomach churning, and tried to keep her from falling further. Her armor was cold, and yet her scales were hot to the touch. She wasn't wounded in any way, and yet... "Careful," Frisk said faintly.

Grunting, Undyne struggled to speak clearly. "I... I didn't..."

Each word she said was accompanied by a gasp, the monster sharply inhaling. It made Frisk's throat tighten with fear, gripping her harder for whatever her meager hands were worth. Somehow, it was even worse than what had happened to Papyrus. She was conscious for it. "U-undyne-"

"D.. didn't give you... nightmares... right?"

Oh. "... ..." Unable to respond Frisk just looked at her, fighting more tears. No. She wouldn't let Undyne see. So instead, she gave a big smile, the biggest one she could muster. And as she did, she heard Undyne laugh weakly. "You're still.. m-missing your tooth... you look so... badass."

Her chest tightening, the tears coming down anyway, the child hugged her friend tight so that she wouldn't see them. "You saved me. So... I'm gonna SAVE you now, Undyne. I'll see you soon."

_You reach to your SAVE file._

If the fish monster had said anything to that, then Frisk couldn't hear it. The memories of Undyne that reached her were all intense, as would be expected. From the moment she first saw her, quivering with fear, when they kind of burned her house down and she realized everything was going to be okay between them, to all the times she boisterously told her what to do. Out of anything else, her loud voice in her ears was the strongest. As she smiled big at her.

She felt safe with Undyne.

But now she was gone, and Frisk couldn't feel the cold of her armor anymore.

She sat there on her knees for a few second, wiping her face. But Flowey, growing prickly on her shoulder, gave her a nudge. "Frisk... ..." When she only moved a little bit, he hissed louder, " _Get up!_ "

Reluctantly, slowly, Frisk stood back up. Flowey snapped, " ** _Go!_** They're going to come back! Take us home!"

"No," Frisk started walking. "We have two more left."

"Are you kidding me!?" Flowey's voice was a hysterical screech. "They know where we are now! And you just sent away the only person who could help!"

Picking up her pace, the child smiled. "You have bullets, use them."

"Yeah bu-." He heaved a huge breath, even though flowers had no lungs. "Where are we even going? Is it far?"

"They're in the Core."

" _We're going to die! They'll find us!_ "

His panic was even starting to affect her, as calm as she tried to be. Frisk started running. "Just tell me which way."

"Left! Th-then right!" To correct for the increase in speed, Flowey was holding on to her painfully tight; she was sure she was bleeding under the sweater.

That's correct; she knew this way through the cavern. It was when she was in Hotland that she was going to have trouble. She prayed to nobody in particular that she was going to make it. The huge building suddenly felt so far away.

"Why are you even wasting your time like this?" Flowey was saying in her ear. "I mean, _I guess_ you and Smiley are friends, but that guy? That guy that tried to kill you earlier?"

Well, everyone that met her tried to kill her. All of her friends had tried, at least once. And even the ones that didn't try, would have, if not for... "Well..." she hesitated. Her gut didn't give her specifics like that. "Maybe it's because I... " she couldn't help grinning, even as she ran. "I think he's really cool with those psychic hands. And maybe if I save his life, he'll teach me ASL like I keep asking him to."

Flowey gave a snort of disbelief, "That's really **stupid** reason to spare someone."

"I'll think of a better one on the way there! And you shouldn't be complaining about me sparing people for stupid reasons," she snapped with a frown and a burning face. Flowey stopped questioning her after that.

The Core still felt far away even when her feet began pounding on the uneven rock and gravel of Hotland's roads. The wooden bridge was close, soon to be illuminated by her light; she remembered where the water-cooler used to stand.

" _FRISK!_ " Flowey's cry almost stopped her, until she realized at the last second that maybe she should not stop when he was using that tone of voice. " _FRISK FRISK FRISK-_ "

"Bullets, Flowey!" The child screamed, regaining her stride and breathing hard. How was this the same Flowey that had attacked her all those times? The one that had laughed so cruelly and so gleefully torn her apart? The one that had stolen all of her friends and tortured her for his own amusement? How was it that being afraid had transformed him so completely? Maybe there was a lesson in that.

Frisk was also scared. She could hear footsteps outside of her own, rapidly approaching them from behind. She knew who it was.

Maybe she had been hiding in the shadows, waiting for them to pass her by.

There was a whizzing sound behind her, and then a loud scream as the bullets impacted. The footsteps faltered and stopped, and encouraged Frisk picked up speed. "Which way to the ladder?" She called.

Momentarily Flowey didn't respond, shooting bullets towards Chara with a deep snarl, but then he said, "Left!"

Frisk tripped over a rock that appeared to be right next to her when she turned, as if just now materializing, but even as the stone scraped at her hands she ripped herself upright. She stared at her feet and the light, making sure she didn't dare trip again. Chara was also running on that path, but with a next barrage of bullets Frisk heard a crash and series of yelps as the child behind her was hit.

Her gut hurt. "I'm sorry!" She called out, not sure that anybody was listening.

But she reached the ladder and climbed. She climbed with aching hands, elbows and knees, not knowing how long she was going to climb for and when Chara would catch up to her. Flowey was breathing hard into her ear, and a root wrapped around her neck and waist as yet more handholds for him. If he fell off now, he might end up falling into an abyss.

She didn't know what to say to him, so she said nothing. His petals brushed against her skin as he drooped and breathed.

The ladder shook and Frisk uttered a little whimper of her own. She couldn't, she couldn't climb fast enough now. The ladder kept shaking. "F-flowey-" she said hoarsely, like pressing a command button to shoot.

And white bullets shot right down, causing a breeze on her back.

Chara screamed and the ladder stopped shaking; Frisk, in turn, climbed faster than she ever thought possible. Even if all she could see was the ladder, and there wasn't any end. She knew when the ladder began to tremble again, she wouldn't be able to get up any farther.

But Flowey called out, "It's this floor!"

And she pulled herself on to solid ground, panting, before weakly stumbling on her feet. His voice was loud, too loud, "Just- keep going forward!"

"Okay," she said in a whisper, taking a deep breath. She had to do this. The light shined around her feet, and she ran again. _Please,_ she thought. _Please, please, please..._

"Left! Up the stairs!"

Up she ran, and her legs had never hurt more in her life.

But then there were more footsteps on the stairs, faster footsteps than hers. Tears blurred her eyes as she went.

More bullets flew from at her back and Chara yowled, rolling down the stairs.

"Through the hotel!"

She was going to pass out. She was going to pass out and Chara would catch her.

And then-?

Then what?

"Up more stairs! A little to the left!"

She didn't want to die. Would she even die, here? Or was it just Flowey that was going to die? What did Chara want with her?

"It's the walkway! A little to the right! Don't fall off!"

"You're choking me," Frisk hissed as she stumbled and crawled, got back up and ran without any more energy.

Flowey relaxed his grip on her neck, although there were plenty other vines that tightened on her body. "Hurry up!"

All she had to do was... reach the elevator right?

"Open the door."

The door opened.

"In here."

* * *

Mercifully, instead of trying to force her up again Flowey reached out a vine and pushed the down button on the wall when Frisk collapsed inside the elevator. As the double doors closed something rammed into them hard, and both Flowey and Frisk couldn't help screaming despite how desperately they tried to regain their breath. There was an indent on the doors.

They had a minute or so, before the elevator would take them to their destination. Frisk sat on the floor and gasped for air. Those gasps turned quickly into sobs, and she wiped at her eyes.

Flowey let go of her, returning to the floor just within her circle of light. "Cut that out!" He snapped. "We have to get going as soon as this thing reaches the bottom!"

But although she tried, she couldn't stop. Why? Why was everything so scary? What had she ever done to deserve this? She just wanted to go home... She just wanted to see Toriel again...

_You've felt this way before._

All she was doing was cry, these days, it felt like. Trying to hide her irritated eyes and dripping nose, Frisk curled up and pulled her knees up to her face, shaking. She felt like something was going to give. There was no one here to make her laugh or make it seem a little brighter out.

"Frisk, I said knock it off," Flowey growled. He was the only one there, once again. But she didn't stop. So the flower stopped trying, instead, slowly drooping until she couldn't see his face behind the veil of petals. He heaved a huge sigh.

Too soon, the elevator doors ground open, struggling to move correctly with the indent. Frisk wiped her face again and stood up. Her legs really hurt but she kept on walking, with Flowey climbing up her body to his now usual perch. The sensation of his thorny vines wrapping around her helped keep her body stiff and upright, so as painful as the thorns were she was grateful for that.

Sans lay before her where she left him. She knelt down beside him, and Flowey hunched away at first until assured he was fully asleep.

Not trembling and crying like Papyrus. But... she wondered if that meant he was fine, or if it meant something else.

"He doesn't trust you, you know."

Frisk sighed.

"I'm just saying," Flowey shrugged in his roots, grinning at her. "He doesn't. Why do you think he's always keeping an eye on you? It's not because he's worried about your safety or anything like that."

"This is a bad time, Flowey," Frisk said, almost inaudibly.

At that, inexplicably, the flower began cracking up. "Boy, I've heard something like that before from **somebody**."

The child put her hands to Sans', grimacing.

_You reach to your SAVE file._

Didn't trust her, huh? At the very start, she hadn't trusted him either. That faded so fast under the pranks and jokes, and that itself seemed a little foolish now. But then, she was a small child. Not to be trusted, but easily trusting. There were serious moments too- when she felt him looking into her SOUL, when it seemed like he always knew things that he shouldn't, knew when she was lying, knew what was wrong or right before she'd figured it out for herself. And when he got mad, like recently, and she didn't know what to say.

But the memory that stuck out to her was the sensation of smiling in spite of herself. Since he was always smiling back at her, in spite of everything.

Sans was gone.

One more left.

The door opened stickily, and Frisk walked into the Inner Core room with Flowey on her shoulder. Before stepping farther, she thought to lock the door behind her in case that would have any effect stopping Chara. Holding on to the maintenance key, even though everything was unlocked already, had some use to it after all.

Now she went to where Dr. Gaster was still laying, huffing. Not wanting to kneel anymore she sat down, instead. She suddenly realized, in the process, that she wasn't going to be able to stand back up. Her legs chose this moment to stop working.

While her face twisted in pain Flowey laughed at her, "So, have you thought of a better reason? Or can we _go_ now?"

A better reason? That's right, she had completely forgotten about that. Frisk looked at the unconscious scientist, watched him shake, and wondered what the images were that went through _his_ mind. What could he possibly be scared of?

Just wanting an ASL tutorial... was not a very good reason to spare someone.

Especially someone who had done so many awful things, who might even do more. Someone who'd made Papyrus afraid and Sans angry, sides of them she had never seen before and never wanted to see. Was she being a bad friend by doing this? At least Flowey would always stay here, away from the people she loved. But what was going to happen when she brought Dr. Gaster back? Was he going to integrate himself into monster society? Was he going to leave as soon as he could and escape what he'd done? Was everything going to be better, or would it all be worse?

"I don't know."

But she reached for his hands, closing both of hers around one- unable to resist running her fingertips on the edge of the hole in his palm, first. The hairs on the back of her neck rose when she felt his fingers close around her hands too.

...It is, she thought, better to spare someone for a really stupid reason...

Then to abandon or kill someone for any reason.

Right?

_You reach for your SAVE file._

_But nothing happened._

"...Uh..." Flowey's voice punctuated the uncertainty she felt. "What are you doing now?"

"Nothing's happening," Frisk choked out.

Although for a second he hesitated, his cruel laughter filled her ears and she tightened her grip on Dr. Gaster's hand. "Oh my god! You don't even know what you're doing, do you?"

But his laughter stopped, and Frisk's heart almost did too, when they heard a grinding sound from far away. And now Flowey's voice was tinged again with panic, "L-look, forget about him, get us out of here while we still have a chance!"

The child shook her head, holding the hand tighter. No. It had... it had worked before. Flowey started to scream at her, "Frisk, take us out of here! Get us out of here, they're coming, they're going to kill me! _Frisk!_ " But no matter how he screamed, she kept shaking her head. It had worked with the others. Why wasn't it working with him?

_You reach for your SAVE file._

_But nothing happened._

Was it just because her memories of him weren't from reality? That wasn't fair. She'd only ever spoken to him in the grey world, and she suspected meeting that fragment of him wouldn't count for this. She'd never known him in the real world, she'd never met him until...

She'd...

But she'd not met the other monsters in reality either, at least not most of them. And yet she'd SAVED them.

Something slammed against the door.

As Flowey squeezed her tight, piercing her with his thorns, Frisk knew what she had to do.

_You reach for your SAVE file._

_No... you reach for **my** SAVE file._

Things that had never happened to her before entered her head and Chara started to scream as she attacked the locked door.

_When they first met and she surprised him with her meager knowledge of sign language,_

And

 _"Oh my god NO, they are not the same at all. Cups of butter are a cooking ingredient. Buttercups are very poisonous flowers. You_ poisoned _him with- ...Ah-... I'm sorry. Please stop crying, human. I told you he's going to live. ...We all make mistakes."_

_The sounds she made weren't from crying but, with her face hidden from him by then, he didn't know that. And his hands floating in front of her didn't have eyes, either,_

And

_Everybody was sad to see her go._

_Unexpectedly, he was sad too. But he might have been more sad to see everyone else suffering. He always, always looked so tired of seeing that,_

And

That was it. Those three images were the only ones she could scrape together. But it was better than nothing.

They grew stronger and stronger in her mind's eye, until she could swear she saw them in front of her. The clearest picture in her head, of those three, was his hands.

Although... Frisk could have sworn that they looked different between the images and the real thing. But when she glanced down to check, Dr. Gaster was already gone. Her heart leaped into her throat, the girl looking for his body- but sure enough, he was all gone. It had worked. It worked. It really worked.

She made a mental note to apologize to Dr. Gaster for breaking her promise.

Although it wasn't one she ever intended to keep.

A large breath she'd been holding in finally came out. She looked over at Flowey, who was still glancing at the door repeatedly as it banged and Chara yelled on the other side. She looked at him for a long time, until he finally noticed she wasn't doing anything and shouted at her, " _What?_ "

"N-nothing." The child offered her hand for him again. "Let's... go home."

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** You Tried


	26. You Tried

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP ?/40

G 10

* * *

The truth was, she didn't want to go back just yet.

Using that other girl's memories had worked to SAVE Dr. Gaster, even when she herself had never met him before she was trapped in the other world. Chara had fond memories of more than just Dr. Gaster too, though, didn't she? She had memories of almost all the monsters, each one within her reach even as terrifying as Chara herself was, so horrifyingly close to them now.

Flowey had climbed down to her hands again, and was looking at her expectantly. His expression was still laced with fear. She looked back at him with a more neutral face, and wondered if maybe she could actually fix everything. If she could do this, then everything that had happened with Dr. Gaster would be completely worth it.

_You reach to my SAVE file._

Memories flooded through her, more intense than the previous set, as if it was the one thing that Chara really wanted or tried to remember. The one thing that she held on to, so tightly that they were not just pictures and words like her memories of Dr. Gaster or the dusted monsters, not just voices, but they were instead... home movies. Scenes that she memorized. The glare of a camera lens shined at her eyes, alongside the blinking red light of "it's on." Someone was laughing. She could feel her face turning up into a big, big smile, her eyes opening extra wide, flaring her nostrils. Someone screamed and then started to laugh even harder, then she laughed too. _Haha. You even saw it coming and I scared you, you silly goat._

_..._

_But nothing happened._

Before she even knew it, she was starting to cry again.

Because Flowey was still sitting there, the same as before. Well... Not exactly the same; he was looking at her with utter confusion, for a second the demon on the other side of the door forgotten while tears streamed down her face. "Frisk? What are you doing?" Then, more panic. "Is it not working?"

No, it wasn't working.

"You can't bring a dead person back to life. Remember?" Though from his vantage point Flowey couldn't see her stepping right through the door, he also stiffened as he heard Chara's voice.

She was frowning fiercely; through her blurry and irritated eyes, Frisk could see that. Well, she would not let that child step any closer. She pulled Flowey in and shut her eyes tight. She reached to her own SAVE file, wincing as the darker memories came back.

...Dark memories were the only ones that she had for Flowey in the true reality. His incessant taunting, the pain of being struck by his bullets, the despair she felt when he stole her happiness away from her whenever possible, killing her until the recollection of being killed was burned into her consciousness forever. The pain stuck out most of all.

Flowey disappeared in her arms.

And Frisk was left all alone with the demonic child. The ugly frown she wore was set off by the huge black eyes that she turned on Frisk, and a low growl was coming from somewhere. Alone, unable to stand, Frisk started to tremble. She ducked her head down, not wanting to see Chara anymore.

Even if she couldn't see her, though, she could still hear her voice. Accusing. As hateful as could be for a little girl, "You sent them back."

Through the curtain hair that fell over her eyes she looked back at Chara, trembling. Before anything scary happened she should really go back, but something, something even now, made her hesitate in trying to summon that command. Maybe it was that she felt she had to defend herself against this other child. Maybe she half-wondered what else she would be able to do in this world, with the stinging and crackling magic that was infused in her muscles.

She could SAVE, DELETE, open up pockets into other dimensions, shine her own light through the dark... this stuff was pretty cool, for her. A human that couldn't do magic. If she just knew how, maybe she could do other things too.

In just a moment something stung her face and she yelped; she'd never answered Chara, and now she had slapped her.

"You _pig!_ " She screeched. "You sent them both back! You didn't make anything better! You ruined it! You wasted everything!"

Huffing and rubbing the red mark that was forming on her cheek, Frisk shook her head. "No I didn't."

"Yes..." Chara opened her mouth. "...you..." More of the black slime was oozing out, oozing its way towards Frisk. "...did!"

Frisk jerked backwards and hissed. Although her legs still burned, she inched back just the littlest bit when the sludge encroached on her light, smothering it. She could feel nightmares gathering at the back of her mind again. God, why wouldn't she leave her alone?

"You spoiled it..." Chara continued to hiss, taking steps towards the other girl who started to virtually crab-walk away. "They're not going to be happy! You're not going to be happy! Why? Why did you spare them? I don't-!"

"Stop," Frisk uttered hoarsely. "C-calm down, okay?"

" **No**." Chara rasped. " **You were supposed to DELETE them**."

She was towering over Frisk now, the ugly scowl on her face that dripped black, her eyes huge streaming that same black. There was so much of it running down her face that the stripes on the younger girl's shirt almost wasn't visible. Frisk trembled; even the little bit of the room that she could see from her own little spotlight was fading. In a moment it was just her and Chara, in an empty void. She continued to back away on the ground, fearing she'd topple over the edge into the little cage area, or that her arms would soon give out. "A-Alice..."

Chara didn't respond.

Frisk took in a deep breath. She had a feeling she would need it, as a little black drop touched her shoe and she felt more of the bad dreams enter her mind's eye. "Y.. you..."

Chara tilted her head at her curiously, like an animal.

"You didn't say... I hate you back."

The scowl got deeper, impossibly deep. " **What**?"

"F-flowey said he hated you, y-you didn't say it back."

" **STOP** "

A flood of black tears falling from her eyes, Chara gave an unearthly scream and dived at Frisk. The child also screamed, her face getting splashed with the nightmarish fluid, and felt tiny fingers close around her throat. She coughed and sputtered, kicking with legs powered purely by adrenaline at the small body pressing down on her. Her grip was incredibly strong for someone so young.

She was crushing her Adam's apple. Frisk's head swam.

_You try to escape._

_Nothing happens._

Her own fingers were clawing at Chara's face while she coughed, or wherever she approximated her face to be. She couldn't see anything anymore, even if she opened her eyes. She could hear incomprehensible screaming, gibberish born of anger, in her ears. Frisk gritted her teeth and kicked again, again and again, clawed at those hands and anything she could dig her nails into.

_You try to push open a pocket._

_Nothing happens._

Frisk butted her head with Chara's, and she heard the other girl cry out. She rolled onto her back and then stood, wobbling, only to feel those hands come around her throat again.

When Chara started squeezing again Frisk shouted as loud as she could without choking, to no one, "Help me!"

_You call for help._

_Nobody's coming to help you shitpig._

Frisk stumbled as Chara pushed her, but didn't fall. She didn't know if she was blacking out, because she couldn't see anything anyway.

_You reach for your SAVE file._

_..._

_... ..._

There were only two memories.

Like the nerd she was, it was Toriel's lullaby.

And a hint of cinnamon in the butterscotch filling.

* * *

She was so prepared to be dead that she didn't realize it when she was no longer standing in the void.

But even when the void disappeared and everything around her was in splendid color, Frisk couldn't get enough air. Her throat was constricted, refusing to release, and something was still crushing her Adam's apple. More than that, something was burning on her neck, white-hot, and it brought more prickling to her eyes. She looked for Chara, now that nothing was blocking her vision, but there was no sign of her. She let out a strangled gasp and a squeaking cough.

She had a few things to take in, as her body wobbled on and her fingers shook trying to find the hands still pressing into her skin. Dr. Gaster, with her back to her, was trying to talk to somebody. His voice was cut off by her pathetic noises, and he turned abruptly to look at her. Sans was also in the room.

He looked angrier than she had ever seen him, his eye flashing yellow-orange and blue and bones filling the air. The sight sent a chill through her and she coughed again. That was her fault, wasn't it?

Well, she couldn't let Sans hurt Dr. Gaster, not after all the trouble she went through. Frisk raised her head and tried to use what little amount of breath she had in calling out to him. Although, he might have already noticed her behind the doctor. "S...s...ans..." It came out rough. Very, very rough. The sounds squeaked past her crushing windpipe and caused her to hack even more, with air she didn't have.

Her pulse was ticking through her head and spots were running over her vision as she gasped; she almost didn't notice when both skeletons ran to her. She stood in place, clawing at her throat and finding nothing to claw at.

Reaching her first, Dr. Gaster's face was right in front of hers, the larger skeleton kneeling down and taking one of her hands away. The one eye of his that was open looked more frantic than she'd ever seen it. She struggled; he was talking, but nothing he said made sense to her, as usual, with the addition of being distorted in her ears. She tried to say something to him, to tell him to let her go, but it just came out as rough vowels. He did let her go though, to reach up with both hands, and Frisk's tiny breath caught as the white hot pain on her neck grew so much greater.

Then it stopped with a _snap!_

Her throat hurt so much, she couldn't appreciate that the pressure on her neck had lifted; even the sensation of Chara pressing down on her Adam's apple was gone. Frisk took in a huge breath and immediately she wasted it, coughing. Each gasp was for the purpose of more coughing. The excess blood slowly flowed out of her head, as she hacked and sucked air, and her pounding pulse faded.

While training her eyes on the ground she saw the locket lying there, several of the chain links on the necklace broken. The chain looked much smaller than usual.

"-away from them-!" By the time she dizzily straightened back up, Sans had pushed Dr. Gaster away. His bony hands gripped her shoulders.

Fortunately his eyes were back to normal, searching the child's face, although the pupils were little more than pinpricks and... it almost looked as if he _wasn't_ smiling. Frisk coughed again, her throat raw by now, and took in air she could this time keep. Her whole body was still trembling, and her legs were probably going to give out any moment. But she grinned with her chattering teeth. Grinning back, Sans said weakly, which she could just make out in her clogged ears, "you look like hell, kid."

She laughed raspily, in spite of the pain. "I f... feel ... like..." she started to say, but barely any sound came out when she did. Sans' smile disappeared. Two warm tears slid down her cheeks as she stared at him, who looked at her with such panicked eyes. She finished, inaudibly, "...hell..."

Frisk's knees buckled, and the room flipped upside-down in her addled mind as the startled Sans lost his grip. She expected the floor to smack her in the face at any moment, but it never did.

Maybe someone caught her on the way down. It'd be nice to not lose any more teeth.

* * *

 

 **Next Chapter:** And You Lied


	27. And You Lied (Anyway, Bye)

**FRISK**

LV 1

HP 50/40

G 10

* * *

Frisk hadn't slept like this in a long, long time. Dreamlessly. Like a rock- and she knew that this was how rocks slept because some of them had told her so when she asked. It was very, very nice- she had long given up on having good dreams, and preferred times like this when she saw nothing at all.

At some point, she felt something new in her sleep; a warm glowing spread throughout her body, soothing every part of her that it touched and bringing her closer to consciousness. That feeling almost woke her up, seeing green on the back of her eyelids, but when she stirred she heard voices overhead that she wasn't interested in engaging. Wanting to prolong her nap, she decided against waking up; the voices disappeared as she fell away from it all. The glowing also disappeared in time, but she didn't mind. Maybe it would come back soon.

Eventually, though, she knew she had to open her eyes again.

When she did, it took her a long time to understand that she was not in her normal bed. She was not in the MTT Hotel, either, and she wasn't in some part of Hotland that she'd picked to be her resting place.

She was deep within a golden flowerbed, accompanied by the gentle weight of something covering her body. It was calm, but it was also far too familiar. Her eyes opened wide and she sat straight up, half throwing off the white thing covering her as she glanced left and right. She hadn't- she hadn't- ?

But then her terrified gaze latched on to Undyne, sitting right next to her in a black tank top. The monster smiled big at her and said, "Woah, you okay?"

Frisk's neck ached; she raised a hand and found that the skin, however, was not painful to the touch and she couldn't feel any red welts. Her limbs were doing fine, not throbbing or feeling like they were about to fall off. She was breathing normally, and even couldn't tell where Flowey had dug right into her with his thorny vines - although she had plenty of rips in her sweater. In fact, she felt better than she'd felt in a long time. She could smell the flowers that crowded around her body, all very sweet.

So taking a deep breath, Frisk nodded at Undyne.

Afterwards Undyne held out a big mug for her; Frisk tasted water inside, which she had expected to be tea, and so coughed up when it hit her tongue. Unexpectedly for how good the rest of her felt, her throat was completely dry. She finished the water in only a few gulps; when she set the mug down, there was another one already being held out for her.

"Ain't this a kick?" Undyne said. "This time I'm the one giving you water."

Frisk snorted and sipped, rubbing her eyes with one free hand. Now that she was calming down, she recognized this place as the king's throne room, or rather the old throne room. It was without the thrones now, of course, but the distant chirping of birds on the surface of the mountain was so familiar she couldn't not recognize this place. But what was she doing here? She put her question to Undyne with an inclination of her head.

"Dude, finish that, you were seriously dehydrated," she replied instead of answering. "I mean, I know Papyurs healed you, but damn. Those idiots didn't even realize it at first."

Those idiots? Frisk looked around the throne room again, while dutifully drinking the rest of the liquid. Where were the others, anyway?

Dr. Gaster was sitting away from them, against the far wall and no longer wearing his lab coat. Looking down, Frisk saw it still covering up her legs.

 _Aww..._ She folded it up.

But Undyne was handing out another mug to her, which she accepted with a sigh. This would be the last one; without any food, she might throw up otherwise. Giving the coat back would have to wait. Dr. Gaster wasn't looking at them, anyway; his hands were over his face.

His hands didn't have holes in them.

"Aah..." Frisk looked back to Undyne. "... What... happened?"

"I seriously don't know?-?-?" Undyne threw up her hands, even squatting as she was, and Frisk coughed up more water. "I just woke up on the ground and went looking for you guys, and I ran into Papyrus on the way over to meet the chucklehead and- well, he and the doc were both carrying you, and we all just kinda regrouped up here." She shrugged, "Sans is calling everyone we know to make sure we haven't worried them. Papyrus would have done it, but his phone's screen has a _huge honking crack_ in it, so he can't open anything else up."

Frisk swallowed down some of the water hard, smiling nervously. Oops.

"Whaaaaat's that look?" Undyne gave her a knowing smirk. "You know something about that?"

"Um..."

The fish monster nodded and slapped her on the back, as if she knew the answer already. "You little squirt! Break your own stuff!" But, in the next second, the smile faded, "Oh, hey... Sans says you scared the crap out of him."

Her smile also vanishing, a lump forming in her throat, Frisk thought back to her last moments before passing out. Sans' tiny eyes. It was true. ...She'd never seen him look scared before. That was another first. Well... she hadn't meant to scare him, whatever it was that did it. Everything had just been such a big rush, from start to finish. She still felt worn out, even if her body was refreshed.

Undyne was saying, "So you should let him know you're okay when he gets back. Papyrus, too. _Oh my god_ was he bawling his eyes out, he thought you were dead at first!"

From a distance, Dr. Gaster was cringing. Frisk didn't see any sign of Papyrus here. "Is he with Sans?"

"Nah," Undyne handed her another mug, which the child just held. "He went to go get something, he said. Should be back soon."

From that point where she passed out backwards, everything from before was slowly coming back to her. As she looked at Undyne, sitting so close and protectively, her eyes filled up and the child leaped forward, taking her by surprise. She wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders and squeezed tight, smiling. "You saved my life, back there. Thank you."

Seeing a red blush from the corner of her eye, Frisk heard Undyne sputter, "So that dream wasn't-...? Y-yeah, well, no problem! All in a day's work! ...Even if I can't really remember most of that. But I'm sure whatever I did, it was badass!"

Frisk laughed, and the two smiled big at each other.

But now without any more water to hold her back, Frisk folded up the lab coat and looked back in Dr. Gaster's direction. "So... what's wrong with him?"

"Let me say it again!" Undyne yelled, and Frisk started to grin from where she was sitting. " _I seriously don't know?-?-?_ " She huffed and continued, in a slightly quieter tone, "He looked like he was losing it for a while, though. Even now, he hasn't moved at all from where he's sitting. Do _you_ know what's up with him?"

She had an idea, but it was only an idea. Furrowing her brows and setting her mouth in a line, Frisk picked up the folded coat and walked over to where Dr. Gaster was sitting alone. He wasn't looking at her at first, so she rustled the coat in her arms to get his attention. When he looked up, she couldn't read his expression at all- it was so much harder on skeletons, normally.

But she wasn't looking at his face so much as she was his hands, which were intact and unlike how they were in the dark world. But she remembered reading in his notes that he had punched holes in them to get the material for cloning Sans and Papyrus. It had sounded horribly painful. So the fact that they were intact again, here... Like in Chara's memory of him...

A memory of him that was nicer, even if not by much. A Gaster that didn't have the impossibly high LV. _The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt_. That was what Sans said. Frisk wondered what would happen if someone who had distanced themselves from a _lot_ of things suddenly had that distance closed again. She wondered if he was in hell right now.

So quietly she asked, "Are you okay?"

He looked at her as if she'd just babbled nonsense, not saying anything or signing anything- she wouldn't understand it, but that had never stopped him before. He just looked away from her.

Ah, was she again going to have to carry on the conversation herself? Maybe so, since she didn't see Papyrus' phone (broken or otherwise) anywhere nearby. So the child stood thinking of something to say, while Dr. Gaster waited. Was "thank you for the help" enough, would it be a good thing to say to him? Or would it only draw attention to what he did?

" ~~IF YOU'RE DONE USING IT, MAY I HAVE IT BACK?~~ "

She jumped at attention with his speech. He was holding out his hand for the lab coat. In response, almost automatic, she stuck her tongue out at him and ran back to Undyne. "!?" She heard him make a sound of surprise, and then his footsteps were following after her.

But she already sat right back down next to Undyne, holding the coat tight in her arms.

He stood in front of her in moments. Beside him, his psychic hands began to sign, " ~~WHY ARE YOU HOLDING MY COAT HOSTAGE?~~ "

Undyne looked from the doctor to Frisk. "Dude, he wants his coat back."

Frisk shook her head.

" ~~IF YOU DON'T GIVE IT BACK I AM TAKING IT FROM YOU.~~ "

She didn't need Undyne to tell her what he was saying next; his vexed expression told her enough. Suddenly, Frisk smiled and held the coat out like she'd never refused. Puzzled, Dr. Gaster put it back on as though expecting she would try to snatch it back if it weren't being worn, while the child then used both hands the pat the ground near them. There was no need for him to sit by himself, and Undyne was probably not going to start throwing spears if she hadn't been already.

He didn't sit down at her invitation, not immediately. There seemed to be a tension keeping him standing. After a moment he sighed, though, and with Frisk looking at him expectantly he finally agreed to her silent request, sitting down on in the bed of golden flowers.

As he did, he uttered and signed something with a dark expression on his face. " ~~YOU LIED TO ME. YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T TAKE ME BACK WITH YOU.~~ "

Frisk paused, looking to Undyne. Undyne said, leaning back on her hands, "He says you lied about not taking him back. _Woah_ , did you actually promise that??"

Now she remembered that promise, which had faded with the memory of her nightmare. Wincing, the child looked guilty for a moment before smiling and picking at a blade of grass. "... I did. _But_... I had my fingers crossed."

Although she meant that as a joke, he simply looked exasperated and tired with it. So sheepishly Frisk added, "Sorry, though."

Sighing roughly, Dr. Gaster covered his face with his hands again and his body shook the slightest amount, before he regained his composure. Frisk couldn't tell if he was angry or anything else, but when he spoke again his speech was softer, " ~~DON'T... GET ME WRONG. THANK YOU, FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH. BUT...~~ "

"He says thanks," Undyne said with a wry grin.

Dr. Gaster looked to them both and fell silent for a second, staring at the ground with his hand to support his head. He moved his face up just a little, glancing in Frisk's direction. " ~~... HOW WAS IT?~~ "

Undyne said, "He wants to know how 'it' was?"

Frisk paused, lying back in the flowers as she thought back to that moment in the Core. "Mmm..." She sat back up and laughed, pulling a leaf from her hair "Ummm that dog head blasting thing? That? That hurt less."

" ~~... SORRY.~~ "

As Undyne said, "He says he's sorry," Frisk looked from her to Dr. Gaster and hurriedly shook her head. "No, it's okay."

" ~~NO, IT ISN'T.~~ "

"And besides," she went on, smiling big, "you can make it up to me by teaching me sign language!"

As if he had expected it and yet not seen it coming at the same time, the skeleton sighed heavily and put his hands over his face. It made her want to laugh, since she'd seen that coming too, out of the other times he refused. ...Although from where she sat, she didn't see him say _no_. Grumbling in short syllables, he signed something with a psychic hand, and she wasn't completely sure but she didn't think that was a " _no_ " either. Her excitement grew.

"Okay-" Undyne raised her voice before the child could say anything more, though, straightening up from where she sat. "What exactly _happened_ with you two when I was passed out?"

Frisk's heart skipped. "Uh."

"..."

The child and the monster both looked to Undyne, expecting the other to start talking.

Luckily, they wouldn't have had a chance to say much even if they started to explain just what exactly Dr. Gaster did.

"FRISK YOU'RE OKAY!"

Frisk hardly had time to cry out before Papyrus had tackled her in a hug, and she gasped sharply while he lifted her off her feet.

It wasn't because it hurt, though. It was just that she had taken a lot of nastier surprises recently. But as Papyrus babbled loudly in her ear, the child let out her breath in a whoosh and started to smile huge. "YOU WERE NOT WAKING UP AND I THE GREAT PAPYRUS GOT SLIGHTLY CONCERNED HEH-NYEH I WAS NOT CRYING NO MATTER WHAT UNDYNE TOLD YOU BUT I SEE THAT MY HEALING DID THE TRICK?"

Frisk squirmed in his grip, "Papyrus!"

"EH?" As the child broke free, she turned around and rammed into him with a hug of her own. "OH! YES I AM SURE THAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN TERRIBLE TO NOT HAVE ME THERE! FEAR NOT, I-" He stopped, looking to Dr. Gaster. "AH! YOU'RE FINALLY RESPONDING AGAIN- DAD?-?-?"

The effect of that word was immediate; Dr. Gaster sank lower and almost seemed to claw at his own face. " ~~DO _NOT_ CALL ME THAT!~~ " He yelled, hoarsely, in his unintelligible speech.

For a moment Papyrus looked concerned, but dauntlessly continued, "WELL YOU DIDN'T SEEM TO LIKE IT WHEN I CALLED YOU FATHER EITHER AND I THOUGHT IT WOULD CONFUSE SOME PEOPLE IF I CALLED YOU PAPA?-? BECAUSE MY NAME IS PAPYRUS WHICH HAS THE SAME FIRST THREE LETTERS?-? AND SOMETIMES SANS CALLS ME PAPS WHICH MAKES IT EVEN MORE SIMILAR, AND EVEN IF IT'S SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SOUNDING I DIDN'T WANT TO RISK IT! AND ANYWAY YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A-"

" ~~SUBJ- PAPYRUS! _STOP_.~~ "

Now Papyrus stopped talking, halted by whatever it was that he said. There were no signing blue hands for Undyne to translate as Frisk watched. She looked to Papyrus, and noticed that there was something small under one of his arms. The thing that he'd left to get, perhaps? She wanted a closer look.

But before she could sneak it out of Papyrus' arms, Dr. Gaster was speaking, a little quieter and strained, as he stood up, " ~~MOST OF MY FRIENDS- JUST CALL ME GASTER.~~ "

Papyrus squealed, startling them all. "DOES THAT MEAN YOU WANT ME TO CALL YOU GASTER TOO BECAUSE WE'RE FRIENDS?"

Frozen in his tracks, shaken as though not aware of what he had done until he did it, all that the other could do was faintly nod.

Frisk suddenly became alarmed that Papyrus was going to hug Gaster, and the scientist would turn to dust as a result. If skeletons could look pale when they were already white, then he would surely be bleached by now. Maybe what he needed right now was space to take in some air.

Hoping that she could give him that room to breathe, Frisk tapped Papyrus on the hand and, when he looked over, pointed to the object under his arm. "NYEH? YOU WISH TO KNOW WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR?"

Frisk nodded. "HOLD THIS FOR ME!" As Papyrus brought the object out, he handed over to the child a phone with a broken screen. "!" She checked it; it was still running, and still open to the translator app. But nothing moved when she tapped the screen experimentally. Papyrus was going to have to buy a new one, and this one hadn't been that old to begin with. She cringed.

But Papyrus was already holding out something for her to see; when she actually took a better look at it, she finally understood. It was a little cube with alternating colors, like tiles. The colors weren't scrambled completely, but with some kind of pattern to them; it was an obvious kitchen-tile pattern on one or two sides, but the others were trickier for her to guess. Was this a fancy paperweight? She looked at it for a bit, trying to figure out what the point was, before finally shrugging at Papyrus with a helpless smile. "... What is this?"

"IT'S MY OLD COLOR CUBE! WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN TRUE LAB, I TOOK IT BACK TO MY CELL ONCE! GASTER WAS PRETTY MAD, BUT HE GAVE IT BACK TO ME FOR BEING GOOD! HE DIDN'T HAVE TO, BUT HE DID! IT'S HOW I KNEW THAT..."

Unbidden, as Papyrus spoke, one of the notes she'd read on the computer came back to her: _"Having something to work on could at least aid in the development of his mental faculties, if nothing else will._ "

"Really?" She studied the pattern on the sides curiously. "So it's a puzzle?"

"YES! YOU SLIDE IT AROUND LIKE THIS, AND TURN THE X'S INTO O'S!"

"Turn the X's into-! Ah!" Now she understood, and she bounced in place, clapping her hands in front of her mouth. "Oh, I like it! What do you get if you win?"

Papyrus scowled at her. "THE SATISFACTION OF SOLVING THE PUZZLE!"

"That's kind of boring..." Frisk murmured.

"NONSENSE!" Suddenly Papyrus was holding the cube out to Frisk, and she set the phone down on the grass before accepting it. "HERE, HUMAN, I INSIST THAT YOU TRY AND SOLVE IT!"

"-I." Frisk looked over the pattern again. "Ah, it looks kind of hard."

"DON'T BE SILLY! IF I COULD DO IT, YOU COULD DO IT!"

She shrugged; if there wasn't going to be a reward in it, she wasn't sure it was worth the risk. "I think I've broken enough of your stuff already, Paps."

The skeleton thoughtfully reached to take the cube back. "WELLLLL I SUPPOSE THERE IS NO HARM IN QUITTING-"

Before either of them knew she had done it, Frisk jerked the color cube back, away from Papyrus' hands. "Uh!" She held her teeth together, looking at the thing. "I'm not _quitting_. I can solve it." She then hesitated, rubbing her eyes, and finally handed it back. "But... maybe I should do it later."

Papyrus patted her on the head. "GOOD! I AM ALREADY VERY PROUD OF YOU!"

The child giggled, smiling back at him. But it didn't stick; for a moment she looked at her surroundings, and noticed that at some point Dr. Gaster had stopped facing the group, staring at the ground again with his back to them both. To an extent, she could understand what he was feeling- she'd felt that kind of thing a few times over the time she spent in the colorless world. When it's so physically difficult just to look at someone, what's a person to do? The answer to that wasn't in words of any kind.

Frisk looked back at Papyrus. She also remembered; he wasn't wearing a smile like that in her nightmare. The expression he wore there was haunting her. "Um..." She brushed back some hair from her eyes. "Hey Papyrus, are you doing alright?"

"Nyeh...?"

For a moment, the moment when he understood what she meant, the expression on his face was unrecognizable. But then he gave a smile that was also unrecognizable. "It's going to get better," he said, in a quieter voice she also didn't recognize.

Then it was back to the regular old Papyrus shout, "AFTER ALL, IT'S MUCH BETTER TO REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED THAN TO KNOW I'VE FORGOTTEN IT. I THINK... SANS WILL COME AROUND TO THAT TOO. SO NO WORRIES, HUMAN! I'M GLAD WE DID THIS!"

Frisk nodded at him, picking up his broken phone again. Was that really true?

It felt like so many lies had been told to her and told by her already...

But at least, she knew Papyrus wasn't very good at lying.

"yo, wingnut."

Speaking of Sans... From beyond the throne room he shuffled inside, looking weary and with a cellphone in one hand and a mostly empty jar of relish in the other. Frisk smiled his way and he smiled back, before walking up to Dr. Gaster, who again wasn't looking at him. "finally finished. had a long talk with alphys. she wants you to call her back."

Undyne bolted forward, "Hey! If anyone's going to talk to Alphys, it's going to be me!"

"well she asked for ding-dong over here," Sans shrugged.

Dr. Gaster stuck his hands in his pockets. " _She's not going to understand me anyway,_ " Frisk heard out of the phone, " _Undyne might as well._ "

As Undyne snatched the phone away, Frisk heard Papyrus say, "IF YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TRANSLATE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING I CAN DO IT!"

" _Uh_..."

"oh, by the way paps," Sans said, fishing out relish, "can't make any stops on the way back to frisk's house. tori's kind of worried."

Dr. Gaster glanced up, bemused, as Papyrus gave his disappointed assent. " _Tori_?"

"oh yeah, queen toriel," Sans said, glancing casually over at him as he went rigid. "she's cool. we're buds. she's taking care of frisk, bein' a mom and all. huh," he mused as he grinned a bit wider at him, "i wonder if that will, uh, effect your sentencing or whatever."

To that, Dr. Gaster made no response. When Undyne was finished with the phone, she handed it off to him and he moved silently out of earshot, Papyrus hurrying after him. Frisk was just staring at the brother that was still standing there, scooping the last of the relish out of the jar with his bony fingers. She could just see the light hitting on the cold metal handplate under his sleeve.

"?" From where he was standing, Frisk's prolonged look eventually caught Sans' attention out of the corner of his eye. Turning, his little light pupils moved back and forth over her face and he nodded approvingly, "you look a lot better, kiddo. well rested."

Frisk smiled at him, although it was tentative, "You still look really tired."

Sans shrugged, absently peering into the relish jar as if hoping there would be some left, and Frisk's stomach growled again. "well, y'know how it is. it's all been a bit too much. too much excitement for sans. i'm gonna sleep like the dead on the ride home, kid, just watch me."

It was like how he was usually, as if nothing bad had even happened. Unable to think of anything to say, the child just nodded at him.

"oh, hey, in case there were doubts," he looked back over at her when he heard nothing. His voice was low, a little lower than usual, as if expecting someone to overhear them. "i got your text messages. there were, uh, multiple spelling errors."

She hadn't doubted he got them for a moment. Embarrassed, Frisk swallowed and nodded again, sheepishly. She couldn't even remember all the things that she'd been firing off from Papyrus' phone. She just wanted him there, wanted someone to come rescue her. Of course, no one had, and that was for the best. She scuffed the dirt with her shoe, wanting to say "I'm sorry" but unsure how to do it out loud.

As usual, her words were obvious even unspoken. "heh heh heh. welp." He patted her on the head. "when i realized i was too late, i kinda thought that you weren't coming back. no joke, i was gonna kill him. there wouldn't have been a point to even doing that, but hey." And as Frisk looked back up, eyes wider, he added a bit more quickly, "but, well, he seems kind of different from before he threw you in there, huh?

"i took a good look at him after you came back and took your nap. his LV is high, but not astronomical. he almost _seemed_ like a person, if that makes sense."

Sans hesitated. Frisk wished that he would stop doing that; she didn't know what he was expecting her to say in the silence. There were so many things she hadn't told him.

Finally he said, as if prompting, "that's your doing, isn't it?"

She let out a breath she'd been holding in.

_You consider telling Sans everything._

_...You tell him a condensed version._

All of the pain, all of the nightmares, she left out. Everything with Flowey, and everything with Alice-turned-Chara, she left out. She only told him of what she could do. Of the way that having all that power inside her hurt but also felt so amazing... of all the things that she would be able to do if she just knew how to do it. SAVING was probably all she could do now, again. She told him of how she'd SAVED them, using a... memory of Gaster that wasn't hers.

He seemed to keep up with it all, nodding. Or he was already phasing out, she couldn't tell which. When she mentioned the memory-that-wasn't-hers he looked utterly confused, but didn't say anything.

So she kept talking. "... And it's been fading away, I guess, but I figure if something like that ever happens to me again, I could do something even more-"

"aaa _ahhhhh_." Suddenly he did speak out, cutting her off. "that's great."

It was her turn to hesitate. Sans shifted, the lights in his eye-sockets searching her face. "you... have no idea how glad it makes me that you," he inclined his head, and she unconsciously did the same. "an eleven year old child, had complete control over time and space and other people's lives, all just because you wanted to have it. that's, uh, good stuff. not terrifying at all."

The next instant, as her smile fell, he ruffled her hair and said, "nah i'm yanking yer chain. ... ...so, you reloaded up an older him? i would call that cheating, but. pretty clever, kiddo."

Frisk looked back over at Dr. Gaster, who was awkwardly communicating with Alphys with Papyrus' help, probably not saying everything while he was in earshot. He looked extremely uncomfortable, but Papyrus was absolutely ecstatic. She smoothed down her bangs and tried to forget Chara's nightmarish face, clasping her hands together with some semblance of pride in herself. "Yeah. Maybe now he can be a good person."

"... ... ..."

There was no response from Sans. Frisk looked back. He had the same tired smile on his face. "...Don't you think?"

The skeleton just shrugged. "it's not what i think that's important. you're the one who brought him back, bud. so it's what you believe that matters."

Not sure what he was expecting, Frisk put her hands in her pockets and looked thoughtfully at her feet. It was true, an opinion had already formed well before she asked Sans. Maybe that also didn't make her a very good friend. She looked up and squared her shoulders, though, saying, "W-well I... I believe that he's going to try harder this time."

At first there was nothing. He closed his eyes and seemed to be thinking that reply over, sighing quietly, while Frisk stood by and watched from foot to foot. When he opened up his eyes again, there was only one blue one, glowing softly in her direction. "that's really all there is to it, then, huh? so stop with the gloomy expression, kiddo." He shifted. "...on a not-related note, uh, call toriel once you get your hands on a phone. because when i said she was _kind of_ worried i meant _really_ worried. and now you have to see a dentist."

Startled, she looked back at Dr. Gaster. "Why can't I just use yours when he's done with it?"

" _hehehe_ are you joking do you think i'm stupid enough to give you my phone? you've been breaking phones left and right."

"Neither of those times were my-"

" _I said_ _no_ oo _oo_ o." His pupils disappeared and he smiled really wide at her. "my phone is not your personal projectile."

Sputtering, the child in the end stuck her tongue out at Sans. "Jerk."

"eheheh, stay classy, Frisk."

* * *

The phone feels so heavy and solid, for the moment that I'm holding on to it. I'm not used to holding things without that hole in my palms. I'd gotten used to gripping them tightly even though, even with the holes, it wasn't often something just fell out of my hands.

I understand a child wanting to help, but knowing this human willingly broke their promise is infuriating. Even more so when I have the phone so close by. Knowing that Alphys was already waiting to speak to me for God knows what reason. Having to speak through a third party, and this third party in particular... and not knowing what I should say that he should hear, or even what to say at all. If I had my own cellphone back, which is impossible now, it would only solve a part of this problem.

I want to hide. I want to tell Papyrus to turn the phone off. I wish he wasn't staring at me with those eager eyes as I struggle to think. Even saying "I'm sorry," to her, even admitting it... as simple as it was to say to a human that I've only begun to know, right now it's too hard.

Every reminder of what I'd done just makes me want to not exist.

What happened between Alphys and I is only part of that, but now it's the most pressing thing, when I hear her voice on the other end of the line.

How foolish. I used to be stronger than this. Although thinking that, I can't forget now where that "strength" came from. I can't forget the way that it got easier and easier and now... I couldn't go through it all again, even if there was a reason or desire to.

Ah. I waited too long and she started talking without me. Now I can hear her saying it. "I'm sorry." Typical, Alphys. You're not the one who should be doing that.

The only thing I can do, particularly with Papyrus listening to every word, is... tell her that nothing more is going to come of it. Everything's going to be resolved. If she was worried, if she was afraid of me, she shouldn't be anymore. I'm certainly not going to be bothering her, or anyone else I've hurt, again. Not if things go as I hope them to when I get back to New New Home.

Though... things haven't exactly been unfolding to _my_ desires lately. I need to remember to tell Asgore, in addition to everything else, that rebuilding the Core in New New Home might not be the best idea.

Regardless of if they're sincere or simply wearing a facade like Alice's, that human is very dangerous. Of that I'm sure.

I hope to god they never become as "strong" as I was.

* * *

It turned out that everything had already been decided while she was asleep. Frisk would go down the mountain with Sans and Papyrus, and Papyrus could drive her back home. He was the only one that knew how to drive, after all. When she asked who would be driving Undyne and Dr. Gaster home, they looked at her at first in confusion. It hadn't occurred to her that he didn't really have a home on the surface.

Embarrassed, she listened as it was explained that the dust of the ...dead monsters she brought back would need to be gathered up and brought to their families for a proper funeral, now that they had all remembered the existence of their relatives. After that Undyne was, in a sense, escorting Dr. Gaster to Asgore's castle. Making sure he did no slipping away from whatever justice the king saw fit to dole out, once he'd made a full confession of what he'd done.

"But before all that we have a lot of dust to clean up! So let's get to it old man! I want to get back to the city by sundown!" Undyne yelled, marching out of the throne room.

Dr. Gaster looked to her vanishing form and then back at Frisk, Sans, and Papyrus. " _This is going to be a long day,_ " Papyrus' phone caught him murmuring to nobody, as he reluctantly followed the fish monster.

Frisk felt Sans tugging on her sleeve and she turned to look at him, tearing her eyes away from the other exit. "c'mon kid. let's follow their example and _leaf_ this establishment."

She nodded, and between them both she stepped out of that sunny old room, finding herself in the familiar hall where the site of the Barrier stood to the right. From there, she was looking forward to seeing the sun again. But as she thought of that, something else occurred to her and she stopped, Papyrus and Sans walking a few steps ahead before realizing Frisk wasn't walking with them.

"Actually," When they turned to check, she scratched her head. "I should SAVE, before we leave." The throne room was always so peaceful, she could almost SAVE in there without thinking about it. "I'll be right back."

Papyrus was eager to get back to his beautiful car. "AH, RIGHT! BUT DO HURRY, HUMAN! IT'D BE RUDE TO KEEP QUEEN TORIEL WAITING!"

The child smiled and nodded, rushing back into the field of flowers. But there would be no time to SAVE.

That was exactly where he was waiting. For a second Frisk didn't even realize he was there, and had just been about to sit down when she spotted him. The one golden flower with a face amidst a crowd of them, watching her. He twisted his face into a skull-like smile when she finally saw him, straightening right back up, and then laughing he disappeared right into the ground again.

"Flowey!" Frisk ran after him- or at least, so she was guessing. She didn't really understand the logistics of how Flowey moved, but when she ran out of the throne room and into the grey hallway of Asgore's castle she saw him there too, pushing up out of the crumbling stone floor. He hadn't been looking at her, but when their eyes met again he seemed more bored, than anything, to find that she'd followed him.

They stood, Frisk staring, not knowing what to say.

"Hey you doofus," Flowey said, summoning back up his cheerful, goofy grin. "What are you still doing here? Don't you have somewhere you have to be?"

She did, actually. But for some reason, she was trying to talk to a deranged buttercup instead. Although talking wasn't a good way of putting it, on her side.

A long time ago Frisk had promised Asriel, in the first and last time she'd ever spoken to him, that she'd be careful and not try to play nice with people who wouldn't, or couldn't, play nice back. She had lied, a little bit.

She'd also promised him that when she saw Flowey again- if she ever saw him again- she would see him as a different person entirely, and only think of Asriel as that sweet kid.

The nightmare she'd experienced less than an hour ago turned that promise, too, into another lie.

"...What? Why are you staring at me like that? What do you want, a thank you?" Flowey was saying as she thought, bobbing back and forth. When Frisk shook her head, started to speak, and then stopped, he burst out laughing. "Ohh, I get it! Now that you've seen what a coward I am, you think that means that we can be friends!"

"... I..."

"Well tough!" He said, his rasping voice echoing loudly across the walls. "I don't want to be friends with you. I don't want to be friends with anyone. Not even them... and since I know they're listening too, I hope they get this message loud and clear! _**We are not friends**_."

Frisk clutched the air before her chest. "Flowey..."

" _What?_ " He snarled. "Do you feel pity for me? 'Poor little flower, he doesn't have anybody and is terrified of leaving this mountain,' is that what you're thinking? 'Poor little Asriel, he can't experience love ever, _ever_ again,' is _that_ it?"

The child in front of him started to shake her head, despite the answer already being clear.

Flowey looked enraged, but then started to laugh.

"...There _is_ just one thing I regret," he said when he'd stopped, straightening up, "And that's remembering again how it feels to _feel_ something. Knowing that, and then going back to feeling nothing... There's no way I'm putting myself through that a third time." He snarled at Frisk. "So you can buzz off."

She gave him a sympathetic smile, despite the fear she felt. "But if you were to feel that way again, and then never go back to this... that would be better, right?"

In response he sneered, sharp teeth forming in a row on his mouth. "I know that _you_ know that will never happen."

"I won't give up on you."

Flowey's face appeared inches from her, cruel, rising up from the ground on a longer and longer stalk. This was new. Frisk's neutral face turned into a grimace, but she stood her ground. "No, you won't, will you? I know you well enough by now." The girl's mouth regained that hard line before him. "If I tell you that the odds are against you, that makes you all the more convinced that you can beat them. If I tell you that it's impossible, that just confirms for you that you can do it. So you _do it_. Because if you ' _can_ ,' then you ' _have to_ ,' right?"

His awful laughter rang out in the little hall and he showed her his teeth. Out of the corner of her eye, Frisk saw the vines rising alongside his lengthening stalk.

"Of course," he said, petals drooping. "I just think you're an idiot for _this_." He gave another, bitter chuckle. "That means by your logic that _he_ does too. Maybe one day you'll understand that you're wasting your time, and you'll give up. ...And then, when your DETERMINATION has run out, I'll take over again, _hahahahahahaha!_ "

With nothing to say to such accusations, Frisk tightened her hands into fists and swallowed.

Flowey bobbed his head from side to side. "...That day _could_ be today, couldn't it?"

The girl's breath caught as the vines that had slowly been circling her tightened, pinning her arms to her sides. "Say, Frisk," the flower hissed, and his dark eyes filled her vision. "I've got a question for you.

"When was the last time you SAVED your game?"

A long second passed, with Frisk's heart hammering in her mouth, just feeling the sharp thorns scraping the skin of her arms through the numerous tears Flowey had made previously. She could see little white bullets at the corner of her vision, floating around them both to pierce her through and lower her HP bit by bit, as had happened numerous times before.

Flowey squeezed her tighter, and out of her mouth a little whimper escaped.

Then the vines around her relaxed, the bullets disappeared, and Flowey inched back down to the floor. He winked stupidly up at her and stuck out his tongue. "Scared ya... silly."

And then the face scowled at her, showing a row of sharp teeth, before sinking below the dirt. "That's what I thought."

_Flowey ran away..._

" ~~WELL, THAT WAS STUPIDLY DANGEROUS OF YOU.~~ "

Frisk looked up, unaware until then that she'd just been staring at the dirt

"Oh." She looked back down again. It seemed that Dr. Gaster hadn't left the former castle yet. She wondered how much of that he'd overheard. "... It's rude to listen in on other people's conversations."

While he waited, she took out Papyrus' phone and handed it to the skeleton, for him to speak deliberately into; it was clear that the machine was struggling to still work despite the abuse it had suffered, but in time it obediently relayed the strange speech into English. " _Are you alright?_ "

Wiping her face, Frisk nodded. It was just some cuts.

" _... ... So, that flower really is Asriel._ "

Surprised, she looked up, wondering how long he had known and yet not forming the question with her lips. Dr. Gaster simply shrugged. ...Maybe to someone smart like him, who had all the pieces already in place, it had been easy to put it all together. She was stupid about it back then and hadn't realized the truth right up until she had to fight Asriel as himself. She wiped her face again and nodded.

She heard him sigh heavily, " _That's a shame. I liked him._ "

Not looking Dr. Gaster in the eye, she murmured, "I liked him too. He was nice."

What she appreciated the most in that moment was that he didn't ask her, then, on what possible occasion she could have met Asriel before his becoming a flower. He just nodded and said, " _Boss monsters are very nice people._ " Slowly, he added, "... _Perhaps_ too _nice, sometimes. But I'm hoping that Asgore will make the right choice when I meet him next, in spite of that._ "

"I hope so too," Frisk said. "But not in spite of anything." If he had eyes, she was sure he would roll them. She didn't care; he could remain in the hell of his heart for as long as he wanted, she wasn't going to rush him out of it any more than she would if it were Sans or Papyrus. ...That was supposed to be a thought of patience, but for a single moment, thinking about Flowey it became exhaustion on her part. It was like there was a weight on her neck; suddenly she didn't care what he did.

Dr. Gaster studied the child's expression and said, tentatively, " _Nonetheless... Flowey, or Asriel, is clearly no longer a boss monster. Why waste your energy_?"

The last thing she expected was for him to say that. Was he trying to make her feel better? If so, the effort alone brought her head back up. "I don't..." No. She stopped, and smiled. "No... what a stupid question."

The skeleton stuck his hands in his coat pockets, meeting her dark eyes.

He was still waiting for her response, and finally she gave him one. "Because I wanted..." she stopped, and started again more quietly, "Because I know if _that_ were my fate, I'd like there to be someone who wouldn't give up on me. And... Asriel is all alone here, so... I..." Her voice dropped off as she kept glancing at him, and she coughed. "Is that a bad answer?"

" _It's a typical answer for a child_."

There wasn't anything else said between them, Frisk just scuffing dirt with a snort. She should SAVE, about now. But she didn't really want to with someone looking at her, especially not someone like Dr. Gaster. Finally, to break the awkward silence, Dr. Gaster said, "... _Well. I have. Dust that needs to be gathered up. And you should go, before those two worry about you._ "

Frisk looked back at him suddenly, and he stopped and stared as she did. There was something else that suddenly she couldn't say out loud; it would sound too silly with her voice. But she didn't want... well. When she left Asriel behind, he'd collapsed into Flowey again. With all her heart, she'd wished that it wouldn't happen, until she avoided Flowey for years after seeing that her wish didn't come true. Wishing didn't really do anything.

Yet she was making another silent wish. Looking at Dr. Gaster, from his head to his intact hands, thinking back to all the times that he'd hesitated and then gone forward with something terrible anyway... she hoped this time his change of attitude would stick. _Don't disappear, like Asriel did._ If not for her sake, then for those two who were like family to her. And for anyone that, maybe, still missed him.

" _Stop staring at me like that. It's rude."_

"Oh!" Finally she croaked, as annoyed impatience flickered on the scientist's face, "I was just thinking. You go should meet Alphys in person when you get back. Before anything else happens."

He made a big sigh, as if she were lecturing him. " _I will try_."

"You better. And... before I go..." He inclined his head curiously. Frisk brushed her bangs out of her eyes and untwisted her sweater. "What happened to Asriel, I've kept it a secret until now. I figured it'd only cause the other monsters to be unhappy if they found out. So I'd really, really appreciate it," she said, breathing deeply. "If you'd keep it a secret too?"

" _Ah. I can do that,_ " he said.

Nodding, even looking the slightest bit relieved, Frisk turned to walk back to where the brothers were waiting. She heard Gaster clear his throat behind her, and remembered. "Oh!" Dutifully she ran back to collect Papyrus' abused phone; as she took it, she said, "See you later, Dr. Gaster."

"..." He said nothing, only waving as she walked away, the phone already turned off.

Leaving him behind, Frisk entered the throne room again and took a deep breath, smelling the familiar scent of the golden flowers around her. They'd only been gone for about a day, huh? A lot of stressful things had happened in that day, that was for sure. There were so many things, so many images, that she didn't want to remember, and yet she was sure that she would be remembering them in her dreams for a long, long time.

The child let out a sigh and slowly walked to the exit, stopping at the spot where Toriel's throne was once put aside. With Flowey's words echoing in her head, and the faces of Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster in her mind's eye, she was starting to consider that this _wasn't_ the "best ending". That it wasn't the "happy" one, as she would have put it when she was younger.

It was the only one she knew how to get, though.

Her hands became fists; she again felt the burning in her that she felt many times before. Okay, so she didn't know "how", and she didn't know "when" things would get better- that was okay because she never had, she just kept trying until _something_ changed. After all, "how, when," those words didn't really matter compared to "will".

She had hope.

People, too, can change.

But all that aside, Frisk knew she couldn't keep Papyrus and Sans waiting any longer. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and took a picture in her mind. The air in front of her sparkled with energy.

_The fact that Flowey, unbelievably, spared you..._

_The chance that you'll actually get your tutorial..._

_Fills you with determination._

_Your game has been saved._

* * *

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your reviews and your views as you read this story, I was very excited to be able to post this on Archive of Our Own and the positive reception its received so far has made me really happy! ;w; 
> 
> Like I said on FF, I probably will not be making a larger sequel to this, but I'd like to at some point upload some of the aftermath shorts I wrote on here as well (not sure if I should make them part of a series or just as individual shorts, though) as well as make new ones.
> 
> Anyway, thanks again for reading! I hope you enjoyed the story! This is way easier to edit than on FF so I'll probably be touching up some of my mistakes later on.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd strongly recommend you check out Zarla's Handplates AU for yourself on her Deviantart account, the comics are excellently written and illustrated. I also want to clarify that the only reason Frisk has higher HP in this is because I figure your HP normally goes up as you age, and she did grow up a tiny bit.
> 
> As a note, this fanfiction is already complete over at Fanfiction.net. I'll probably be updating over here every couple of days, so if you want to see it all without any suspense the title is the same there.


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